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Russia’s assembly speaker to participate in World Speakers’ Conference

Commenting on these reports, the U.S. embassy in Moscow said Matviyenko’s visa application was still under consideration

© Anton Novodrezhkin/TASS

NEW YORK, August 24. /TASS/. The speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament has been included in the preliminary list of participants in the 4th World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, scheduled to take place in New York next week.

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Russian senior lawmaker's US visa application still at the embassy — embassy spokesperson

According to the conference programme, obtained by TASS on Monday, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko is due to deliver a five-minute speech on August 31, the first day of the forum, organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in cooperation with the United Nations.

Russia’s delegation also includes the Federation Council's deputy speaker, Galina Karelova, the chairman of the Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Konstantin Kosachev, and a member of the Federation Council’s Committee on Culture, Science, and Information, Aleksandr Totoonov.

Several media outlets had earlier reported that Matviyenko, who had been put on the U.S. sanctions list, could not travel to New York to attend the conference as she had allegedly been denied a visa to enter the United States.

Commenting on these reports, the U.S. embassy in Moscow said Matviyenko’s visa application was still under consideration.

The 4th World Conference of Speakers of Parliament will be held at United Nations Headquarters in New York from August 31 to September 2. It will be preceded by the 10th Meeting of Women Speakers of Parliament, due to take place in New York on August 29 and 30.

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