MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. The US visas needed to attend a UN Security Council meeting have been issued to almost all members of the Russian delegation, but journalists are still empty-handed here, Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said on Thursday.

"Visas have been issued to almost all members of the delegation, except for a few people. I wouldn’t say that they were issued at the last moment; it was about a week ago. Visas have not yet been issued to the Russian journalists accompanying the minister and the delegation," Nebenzya told the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

According to the UN ambassador, such situations - "either issuing visas in the nick of time, or not issuing visas at all" - are commonplace for the host country of the UN headquarters. "Now we are waiting for a visa for the head of the Russian delegation to the Permanent Forum [on] Indigenous Issues, head of the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs [Igor] Barinov, who has not yet been issued a visa. The forum is already into its second week, with only one week remaining, and he is still waiting for that visa," Nebenzya explained.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the US had abused its position as host of the UN headquarters when issuing visas to the Russian delegation to the UN Security Council. Visas were not issued to some members of the delegation, and no journalists received one. According to Lavrov, the American side did not explain the reason behind the decision.

Russia holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council in April. As part of Russia’s presidency, Lavrov will attend Security Council sessions on April 24 and 25.