The United States has refused to issue a visa to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alimov, who intends to participate in the UN Security Council, Russia’s permanent representative to the organization, Vasily Nebenzia, said.
He explained that the Russian delegation received an invitation from Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, as China has held the presidency of the UN Security Council since May 1.
Nebenzia said that Russia considers the visa refusal “not only a violation of Washington’s obligations”, but also “a blatant disrespect for China’s presidency.”
After Donald Trump reached his second presidential term, diplomatic relations between Russia and the United States improved significantly compared to the previous four years. Trump’s special envoys have repeatedly traveled to Moscow, and the United States has also temporarily lifted sanctions on the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Kirill Dmitriev, whom Vladimir Putin appointed as his special envoy, to allow the State Department to issue him a visa. As a result, Dmitriev repeatedly traveled to the United States and met there with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff. However, official representatives of Russian delegations are periodically denied visas – according to Nebenzi, this is not the first time this has happened to Alimov.