Moscow slams US after Russian journalists denied visas for UN visit
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The US State Department said it routinely issues visas to Russians for United Nations events.
PHOTO: REUTERS
MOSCOW - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday said Moscow “will not forgive” Washington for denying US visas to Russian journalists meant to accompany him on a visit to United Nations headquarters.
“We won’t forget, we will not forgive this,” said Mr Lavrov, who is set to chair several UN Security Council meetings in New York.
Despite its Ukraine offensive, Russia took up the rotating presidency of the 15-member Security Council in April – a move Kyiv called “a slap in the face”.
Mr Lavrov denounced a “stupid” failure of the US to give visas to Russian journalists. “A country that calls itself the strongest, smartest, freest and fairest, chickened out,” he said.
Since the beginning of the offensive, Moscow has strongly tightened conditions to obtain the accreditations needed to get journalist visas in Russia.
Asked for a response to Moscow’s reaction, the US State Department said it routinely issues visas to Russians for UN events.
It pointed to longstanding concerns on restrictions on staffing the US embassy in Moscow, which has been down to a skeleton crew since the conflict began.
“The United States takes seriously its obligations as host country of the UN under the UN Headquarters Agreement, including with respect to visa issuance,” a State Department spokesman said.
Filing Russian visa applications as early as possible “is especially important because of Russia’s unwarranted actions against our embassy in Russia, including the forced termination of local and third country national staff, which have severely limited our staffing and therefore our capacity to process visas”, the spokesman said.
The State Department said it could not discuss specific cases due to US privacy laws.
Russia’s UN mission joined Mr Lavrov in condemning Washington, saying on Twitter that “the United States violated again its obligations” under the UN headquarters agreement by denying visas to Russian journalists.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned of more retaliatory steps. “We will find formats to respond to this so that the Americans remember for a long time that such things must not be done,” he was cited as saying by state-run news agencies.
RIA Novosti also cited a diplomatic source saying that, following the incident, “American journalists will experience all the discomfort and inconvenience”.
In March, US journalist Evan Gershkovich was arrested in Russia and charged with espionage.
The reporter, his employer The Wall Street Journal, and US officials strongly denied the allegations. He is the first foreign journalist arrested on spying allegations since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The diplomatic source cited by RIA Novosti said the incident over visas proved Washington’s “imaginary concern” for Gershkovich. “Otherwise, they would not treat Russian journalists like this,” the source said. AFP
