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Russia to respond to US’ non-issuance of visas to Russian journalists — senior diplomat

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said earlier on Sunday that no American visas had been issued to Russian journalists

MOSCOW, April 23. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Sunday that the non-issuance of visas to Russian journalists who were supposed to highlight Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Lavrov’s work at events in New York is outrageous and a response to Washington will inevitably follow.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said earlier on Sunday that no American visas had been issued to Russian journalists. On her Telegram channel, she cited the US embassy as saying that they were "working on this." She slammed this situation as a "manipulation of the freedom of speech and infringement on the rights of journalists."

"I stress, we will find formats to respond to this so that the Americans remember for a long time that such things must not be done. And they will learn that," Ryabkov stressed.

According to Ryabkov, non-issuance of visas "has been an outrageous, absolutely unacceptable method." "The Americans were pretending to be working, that a solution was about to be found. They were playing with the nerves. It was a humiliation once again demonstrating that the colleagues from Washington cannot be trusted, moreover, they should not be listed to," he told journalists who arrived at the airport to fly to New York.

He recalled that the Russian foreign ministry had contacted the embassy on that matted more than once in recent days. "But the result, as you can see, is deplorable and this is despite the vows that the visas were about to be issued. This was a lie. A flagrant lie and it only discredits the country hosting the United Nations headquarters," the diplomat stressed, adding that Lavrov’s program in New York provides for "important newsworthy events." "And our press pool was supposed to accompany him. This has not happened. The responsibility rests entirely on the American side," he added.

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

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