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Two committees of the UN General Assembly - Sixth and First - decided to postpone the start of work for several hours, RIA Novosti reports. The reason was the refusal to issue visas to Russians and representatives of some other countries.
The first committee deals with disarmament and international security. Initially, the committee meeting was scheduled for 15:00 (22:00 Moscow time) Monday. But soon they announced the postponement of the meeting at 10:00 (17:00 Moscow time) the next day.
The Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Gennady Kuzmin, spoke about the suspension of the work of the committee. Earlier, the Iranian representative refused to support the work plan of the Sixth Committee, because none of the members of his country's delegation received an American visa.
According to Kuzmin, to approve the program, consensus is needed, but it is absent. The Russian diplomat noted that the latest scandal with visas overflowed the patience, and this became the reason for the demarche.
Concern over the visa situation was expressed by the representative of the UN Secretary General, Stephane Dujarric. According to him, this issue has been discussed more than once with the United States authorities at various levels.
At the same time, Robert Woods, who represents an overseas power at an arms conference, does not see any problems. He is confident that Washington has the right to issue or not to issue visas. At the same time, it regrets that Russia raised the issue of visas at the UN level. Woods acknowledged that it was not the first time there was an issue with visas and expressed the hope that the work of the disarmament committee would continue. He did not specify whether the United States plans to discuss the visa issue with Russia, as Moscow insisted on it.
Russkiy Mir
reported that Russia proposed transfer the meeting of the First Committee of the UN General Assembly from the United States from 2020. According to Dmitry Polyansky, who holds the post of Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, the First Committee and the UN Disarmament Commission can meet in Austria or in Switzerland. The Russian diplomat emphasized that a third of the Russian delegation, which was supposed to take part in the meeting of the committee, did not get American visas. He suggested taking a break from work until the visa issue was settled. When all members of the delegation receive visas, Russia will be ready to resume the session.
Russkiy Mir
