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US, Austria kept Russia away from UN events — Russian diplomat

"We consider this not only as a failure by the UN host country to fulfill its obligations but also as a desire to exert political influence on the talks on the convention," Dmitry Bukin stressed

UNITED NATIONS, August 21. /TASS/. The United States and Austria prevented Russia from participating in United Nations events on IT technologies in New York and Vienna by making sure Russian diplomats were not issued visas, deputy head of the Russian delegation Dmitry Bukin said on Monday at the sixth session of the Ad Hoc Committee to Elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the Use of Information and Communications Technologies for Criminal Purposes.

"Among such countries (which are against Russia’s proposals on the convention - TASS) are the United States and Austria, which prevented the Russian delegation from participating in the ad hoc committee’s events by means of not issuing visas to the head and members of the Russian delegation. We consider this not only as a failure by the UN host country to fulfill its obligations but also as a desire to exert political influence on the talks on the convention," he said.

The sixth session of the Ad Hoc Committee to Elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the Use of Information and Communications Technologies for Criminal Purposes opened at the UN New York headquarters on Monday. Russia suggested that the draft convention include provisions on fighting terrorism, Nazism and extremism.

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