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UN's Disarmament Commission postpones session as Russian diplomat does not receive US visa

Russia's First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky said that head of the Russian delegation Konstantin Vorontsov was not issued a US visa on time

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

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THE UNITED NATIONS, February 18. /TASS/. The UN General Assembly's Disarmament Commission has deferred the start of its 2020 organizational session for 10 days because Russia's representative Konstantin Vorontsov did not receive a US visa on time, the UN said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

At Tuesday's session of the Disarmament Commission, Russia's First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyansky said that head of the Russian delegation Konstantin Vorontsov was not issued a US visa on time, which prevented him from arriving in New York.

"The Disarmament Commission deferred the start of its 2020 organizational session meeting for 10 days today to enable the Committee on Relations with the Host Country to address the Russian Federation's concerns over the non-issuance of delegates' visas by the United States," the statement said addding that no member states objected to the 10-day deferment.

Since the start of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly, 18 Russian delegates have not been issued US visas. In December 2019, the UN General Assembly called on the United States to issue visas on time to delegates from several countries, including Russia, Iran and Venezuela.

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