UNITED NATIONS, September 20. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will pay a visit to the United States, heading the Russian delegation to the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, which began on Tuesday.

The top Russian diplomat plans to hold around 20 bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the event. He will also meet with senior officials from international organizations, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The key event on Lavrov’s working schedule will be an address to the UN General Assembly on September 23.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS earlier the US had not contacted Russia about a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, so no such events were planned.

"The schedule of [Russian Foreign] Minister [Sergey Lavrov] is extremely intensive. Bilateral interaction with the US side is not planned and, considering the policy adopted by Washington, we do not see any added value in it. Especially because we have not received any requests on the matter," he said.

On the day of his arrival, the top Russian diplomat will participate in a meeting of foreign ministers from the BRICS group of nations, informing his counterparts about Russia’s upcoming presidency in BRICS in 2024. Also, he will attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and events of the UN Security Council, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations, held on the sidelines of the assembly.

Road difficulties

According to Ryabkov, the Russian foreign minister’s journey to New York will be extremely difficult due to the travel time and distance, which increased after western countries closed their airspace for Russian flights. During Lavrov’s visit to New York last year, his flight lasted approximately 12 hours.

The deputy minister added that the United States had made it extremely difficult for Russian representatives to get visas to attend the UN General Assembly events, "again delaying things until the last moment," and as a result some members of the delegation did not receive entry permits.

"Among them are Leonid Slutsky, a member of the official delegation and head of the Russian State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs, and some heads of Foreign Ministry departments. The State Department made these decisions arbitrarily," Ryabkov said.

Nevertheless, the United States granted a flight permission for the Russian foreign minister’s plane, while journalists from his pool received visas shortly before the delegation’s departure. In April 2023, the United States did not issue entry permits to individual Russian diplomatic staff, or any journalists in the delegation to attend the UN Security Council, which Russia was chair of at that time.

The High-level Week of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly opened on September 19 in New York. It traditionally brings together heads of state, prime ministers, foreign ministers and representatives of international organizations from around the world. For the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the High-level Week will be held without health restrictions. Participants will have to attend all events in person, and video messages will not be allowed.