WASHINGTON. April 20 (Interfax) - Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov has called on Washington to urgently issue visas to all members of Russia's delegation traveling to New York for UN Security Council events and to the journalists accompanying the delegation.
"We once again urge Washington to stop creating artificial obstacles and demand to issue entry permits to all participants declared by the Russian side without any delay," Antonov said in a statement published on the Telegram channel of the Russian embassy to the U.S.
"So far, permissions have not been issued to a number of members of the delegation and the journalists sent to the United States to accompany Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who is participating in the UN Security Council events, chaired by Russia," the ambassador said.
On April 14, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the United States started issuing visas to the Russian delegation led by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to take part in UN Security Council events in New York.
At the same time, "there is still an impasse with the issuance of visas to Russian journalists to cover the work of our delegation at the UN Security Council," it said.
Earlier, Antonov said that "the U.S. authorities have not yet sanctioned the arrival of the aircraft." "We expect Americans to promptly grant the flight permission without any conditions or restrictions," Antonov said.