MOSCOW, September 25. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will begin the meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by mentioning the non-issuance of US visas to members of the Russian delegation to the UN General Assembly, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on the Rossiya-1 channel on Wednesday.
"Of course, the meeting between Lavrov and Pompeo will begin with this. This is an unprecedented failure by the US to adhere to its obligations as a UN headquarters country. This is not an issue of Russian-American relations, this is an issue of relations between the US and the UN," she said.
A representative of the US State Department informed earlier that the meeting between Lavrov and Pompeo is planned for Friday.
Earlier, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev informed TASS that 10 members of the Russian delegation, including Kosachev himself, were not issued visas to the US. Therefore, they are unable to take part in the annual session of the UN General Assembly. He added that their documents are located at the US embassy, and that by the time of their departure on Tuesday, the visas had not been issued.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov deemed the situation "unacceptable", adding that it requires a strict response from Moscow and the UN. The Kremlin noted that the US failed to comply with its international obligations.