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Possible relocation of UN headquarters from New York being looked at — Russian diplomat

"Currently, Russia has problems with obtaining visas for members of the Russian delegation to UN event in New York," whereas the United States is obliged to issue such visas without delays and without conditioning visa issuance on any other matters, he explained

MOSCOW, September 4. /TASS/. The issue of relocating the UN headquarters from New York to another place is being looked at, since the United States is not implementing its liabilities as a host country, Alexey Drobinin, director of the Russian foreign ministry’s foreign policy planning department, said in an interview with the International Affairs magazine on Sunday.

"It is not an idle matter. It is being discussed indeed. Back then when everyone agreed to headquarter the United Nations in New York, the United States undertook liabilities of a host country and signed a corresponding agreement with the UN Secretariat. Now, we see quite a lot of examples of the United States’ dodging the implementation of this agreement as a host country," he said.

"Currently, Russia has problems with obtaining visas for members of the Russian delegation to UN event in New York," whereas the United States is obliged to issue such visas without delays and without conditioning visa issuance on any other matters, he explained.

"This liability is not implemented. There are other problems, which are a subject of our dialogue with the UN Secretariat," he stressed. "Such issues are raised and I can confirm that the issue of relocating ‘the UN capital’ is not an idle question."

According to the Russian diplomat, such problems are facing not only Russia, but other countries the United States doesn’t like due to these or those reasons. "And the number of such countries is growing and will continue to grow, so our American colleagues will have to decide somehow what is more important for them," he added.