GENEVA, February 8. /TASS/. The World Health Organization (WHO) has all the grounds not to recognize the United States’ withdrawal from the organization until it repays all its debts, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Geneva office and other Geneva-based international organizations Gennady Gatilov told TASS.
He recalled that the United States claims to have quitted the WHO from January 22, 2026, or a year after the United Nations Secretary General, as a WHO Charter depository, was notified about the withdrawal. However, the Americans "have not yet not fulfilled their financial obligations to the organization, which is a necessary condition for terminating their membership in the WHO," Gatilov said, adding that this refers to contributions for 2024 and 2025to a sum of approximately $260.6 million, which Washington has not paid.
"I would like to stress that this liability was not imposed on Washington but was committed to paper by a US Congress resolution," the Russian diplomat explained. Later, in his words, this obligation was endorsed by the World Health Assembly, the WHO’s main decision-making body. "Thus, the World Health Assembly has all the grounds not to recognized the United States’ withdrawal from the WHO as accomplished until the Americans repay all of their debts," he said, adding that this issue will be considered at the assembly’s session in May 2026.
The diplomat stressed that the Russian side’s commitment to the "principles of real multilateralism, equality-based partnership, and support for the UN system as a basis of the present-day world order does not depend on politically-motivated decisions by some countries." That is why Russia "will continue using the WHO as a platform for professional and mutually beneficial dialogue with all countries that are interested in that," he added.