Russia says US did not grant visa for official to attend UN meeting

Source: Reuters

May 26, 2026 12:13 PM EDT Updated 1 hour ago


May 26 (Reuters) - Russia's U.N. ambassador said on Tuesday that the United States did not grant ‌a visa for Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alimov to attend a U.N. Security Council meeting and called it a breach of U.S. obligations as host of the U.N.

Vassily Nebenzia made the comment at a meeting of the 15-member U.N. Security Council chaired by China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi that he said ​Alimov had intended to attend. A U.N. diplomat said Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi had also apparently been denied a visa to ​attend the same meeting. The main topic of the meeting was upholding the U.N. charter and ⁠strengthening multilateral cooperation.

The State Department as well as the U.S. and Iranian missions to the U.N. did not immediately respond to requests for comment. ​China's mission said it had no information about visa issues. Nebenzia said Alimov, who oversees matters related to the United Nations, was invited by ​Wang and called it "an egregious instance of disrespect" for China's U.N. presidency, especially when the topic under discussion was the U.N. charter.

"Despite all of our attempts to persuade the U.S. side to issue a visa to him, that visa was ultimately not granted," he said. Nebenzia said that under the U.N. Headquarters ​Agreement, access to U.N. headquarters in New York "needs to be provided for all officials of member states, barring none."

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-says-us-did-not-grant-visa-vice-minister-attend-un-2026-05-26/