Russia says US did not grant visa for vice-minister to attend UN Security Council meeting 

WASHINGTON - Russia’s UN ambassador said on May 26 that the US did not grant a visa for Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alimov to attend a UN Security Council meeting and called it a breach of US obligations under the UN Headquarters Agreement.

Mr Vassily Nebenzia made the comment at a meeting of the 15-member UN Security Council chaired by China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi that he said Alimov had intended to attend.

A UN diplomat said Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had also apparently been denied a visa to attend the same meeting.

The main topic of the meeting was upholding the UN charter and strengthening multilateral cooperation.

The State Department as well as the US and Iranian missions to the UN did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

China’s mission said it had no information about visa issues.

Mr Nebenziasaid Alimov, who oversees matters related to the United Nations, was invited by Mr Wang and called it “an egregious instance of disrespect” for China’s UN presidency, especially when the topic under discussion was the UN charter.

“Despite all of our attempts to persuade the US side to issue a visa to him, that visa was ultimately not granted,” he said.

Mr Nebenzia said that under the UN Headquarters Agreement, access to UN headquarters in New York “needs to be provided for all officials of member states, barring none.”

UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told a UN news briefing: “We expect the host country to issue visas to all of those who need to participate in the activities of the United Nations at our headquarters here.”

Mr Araghchi was not in New York and would not meet with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday as scheduled, Mr Haq said, adding he did not know the reason.

Iran said on May 26 the United States had violated the ceasefire in their war after the US conducted what it called defensive strikes in southern Iran.

Mr Wang told reporters he hoped parties in the conflict could stay committed to the ceasefire and meet each other halfway.

Mr Nebenzia said that the UN charter was under serious strain and accused Western-led countries of using double standards to maintain dominance.

He said remilitarisation in Germany and Japan were dangerous developments that were threats to global security and undoing the results of World War Two.

“The policy of remilitarisation is undermining the UN-centric international system,” he said.

“Countries that were defeated during the Second World War are seeking plausible pretexts for rewriting its outcomes, and their rhetoric should not mislead anybody. This is a very dangerous trend, which warrants the attention of the entire international community.”

Mr Wang said there was a need to “reinvigorate” the UN Charter amid rising global instability and conflict, warning that “a giant ship of global civilisation is sailing into dangerous waters.”

Mr Guterres told the meeting the world now faced the highest number of conflicts since the founding of the United Nations at the end of World War Two, and “new and uncharted risks to peace and security.” REUTERS