Russia demanded to resolve the issue of non-issuance of US visas in UN arbitration

Russia requested the UN arbitration procedure to resolve the situation with regular non-issuance of US visas to foreign diplomats, said RIA News diplomatic source.

Photo: Shutterstock

On February 25, the organization held a meeting of the committee on relations with the host country, at which the Russian side again raised this topic.

“Russia and a number of delegations of UN member countries demanded not only to refer the issue of non-issuance of American visas to foreign diplomats to arbitration, but also to start its work to resolve the current situation,” the agency’s interlocutor said.

“The relevant resolution of the General Assembly enshrines the concept of a “certain period” that must pass before the case goes to arbitration. The Russian representative said that this period has expired, it is necessary to go to arbitration,” the interlocutor quotes TASS.

The UN representative promised to transmit this information to Secretary General Anthony Guterres.

“We expect that the Secretary General will make an appropriate decision and launch the arbitration procedure,” the agency’s interlocutor added.

According to the source, China, Iran, Syria, Cuba, Belarus, Nicaragua supported the Russian position.

During the meeting of the deputy representative of the Russian Federation, Gennady Kuzmin also directly addressed the US representative with a question about whether a visa would be issued to the head of the Russian delegation at the session of the Disarmament Commission Konstantin Vorontsov. The meeting has already been rescheduled for 10 days and is scheduled for February 27.

“The US representative remained silent in response, without actually giving any guarantees,” the diplomatic source said.

On the subject: The Russians have complicated the process of obtaining visas for work in the United States

Visa Issues

In December 2019, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling on the United States to promptly issue entry visas to delegates traveling to attend UN events. The document stipulates that if visa problems are not resolved within a reasonable and limited period of time, “serious consideration will be given to taking the measures provided for in Section 21 of the Headquarters Agreement.” We are talking about resolving disputes through arbitration between the UN and the United States.

Problems with issuing visas to Russians to participate in international events in the United States began to arise regularly since 2014 after a sharp deterioration in bilateral relations due to the situation in the Crimea and Donbass. So, in 2015, the States issued a visa with restrictions to the Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko, because of which she had to cancel her visit to participate in the World Conference of Heads of Parliaments of countries participating in the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

In 2017, Russian diplomats sent to the embassy in the United States, consulates general and permanent mission to the UN encountered problems. Then Russian representatives sent to the UN Secretariat in New York came under attack.

In 2019, many of those who were supposed to participate in plenary meetings of the UN General Assembly and the work of its individual committees were refused entry.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• In September 2019, ten members of the Russian delegation, including a member of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev, did not receive on time American visas to participate in the UN General Assembly and did not fly to the United States. The delegation was to accompany Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the United States of default through the UN and “unleashing a visa war,” and the head of the department, Sergei Lavrov, called the refusal to issue visas a disgrace.
• October 7, two UN committees dealing with legal issues and disarmament and international security issues, suspended work due to visa problems for the Russian delegation.
• December 4, USA did not issue visas to the Russian delegation to participate in an international audit conference, comments were posted on the website of the Russian embassy in Washington. “The United States has unleashed a real visa war against the Russians. Non-issuance of visas has become another illegal weapon of struggle, ”the diplomatic service said.
• December 12 court in Russia punished a delegation from the USA for violation of the visa regime. According to Russian media, employees of the University of Buffalo who arrived in Ryazan at the invitation of "Business Russia" were charged with teaching activities, although they have tourist visas.
• February 1, 2020 US President Donald Trump limited visa issuance citizens of six countries, including Kyrgyzstan. Eritrea, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania also fell under restrictions. The White House clarified that these countries are not able to conduct proper identity management procedures or do not meet basic national security requirements.

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