“34 employees of the Russian permanent mission and 43 members of their families are waiting for the extension of visas.
The average time is five months or more.
All this time, they remain de facto deprived of the opportunity to travel to their homeland, including for serious humanitarian reasons, ”RIA Novosti quotes him.
According to the diplomat, the practice of visa discrimination against Russian citizens who have passed the competition for filling vacancies in the UN Secretariat has become more frequent.
He added that Russians who already work there cannot get visas either.
“We count on a more active position of the Secretary General to protect the rights of at least his own employees,” Leonidchenko added.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recalled that the United States and UN Secretary General António Guterres are obliged to ensure the participation of all delegations in the General Assembly (GA) of the world organization.
Deputy Spokesman for the UN Secretary General Farhan Haq noted that António Guterres is in constant contact with the US and Russia on the visa issue.
To date, Lavrov and members of the Russian delegation have not yet received US visas for participation in the session of the UN General Assembly.