The United States allows Russia’s Lavrov to travel to the United Nations

• The US has granted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov a visa to travel to New York for the United Nations’ annual gathering of world leaders.
• According to a Russian diplomatic source, the US approved 24 visas on Tuesday.
• It was unclear whether Washington had issued visas to the Russian flight crew.

The US has granted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov a visa to travel to New York for the United Nations’ annual gathering of world leaders next week with half the delegation Moscow requested, According to a Russian diplomatic source.

According to a letter to the United Nations dated September 2, Moscow requested 56 visas. Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s UN Ambassador, met with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. According to a Russian diplomatic source, the US approved 24 visas on Tuesday.

Nebenzia also mentioned in his letter that Lavrov’s flight crew had not received visas. It was unclear whether Washington had issued visas to the Russian flight crew or whether Lavrov would be expected to fly commercial airlines to New York.

The US State Department did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The United Nations High-Level Meeting The General Assembly begins on September 20.

According to the 1947 U.N. The United States is generally required to allow foreign diplomats access to the United Nations under the “headquarters agreement.” However, Washington claims it has the authority to deny visas for security, terrorism, and foreign policy reasons.

The UN said earlier this month that it was in talks with the US about the issue of Russian visas.

Since Moscow invaded neighbouring Ukraine in February, the US-Russia relationship has deteriorated. Russia’s actions in Ukraine are described as a “special military operation.”

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that the US was “violating its obligations” by not issuing visas to Russia’s entire delegation, and that it would hold the UN and the US accountable for the situation.

Earlier this month, the United States stated that it takes its U.N. It takes its host country obligations seriously, and because visa records are confidential under US law, it cannot comment on individual cases.

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