YALTA, March 31. /TASS/. The Russian money meant as a fee to the United Nations has been stuck in the UN Secretariat’s accounts with Gazprombank, Kirill Logvinov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department of International Organizations, said in an interview with TASS.
"Since Gazprombank was added to the US Treasury’s sanctions list in late 2024, the payment of Russia’s mandatory and voluntary fees to the UN and its agencies has actually been blocked. In other words, the money is stuck in accounts that the UN Secretariat opened with the lender," he said, commenting on the situation around Russia’s UN membership fee.
According to Logvinov, this constitutes a major problem for the UN as the UN Secretariat, just like any other organization in the global body’s system, relies critically on fees from member countries, especially "amid austerity measures being pursued by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres."
However, Moscow is in close contact with UN financers, mostly those headquartered in New York, on the situation. "Anyway, I would like to stress that, despite obstacles being mounted, our country remains committed to the timely and full fulfilment of its financial obligations," the diplomat concluded.