Sergei Lavrov flew to New York, but American officials ignore him

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in New York. Here he will chair a meeting of the UN Security Council. At the same time, the White House announced that no meetings of American officials were planned with him, reports RG.RU.

According to the press secretary of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, Lavrov’s flight to New York was simultaneously monitored by more than 700,000 people on the Flightradar service.

“The total number of users showing interest in the flight was nearly three million,” she said, calling it “a weekly record.”

There will be meetings, but not with the Americans

Lavrov is expected to meet with UN Secretary General António Guterres in New York. Earlier, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, said that “the country has accumulated a lot of questions for discussion.” Experts suggest that at the talks with Guterres Lavrov will try to discuss the terms of the deal on the export of Ukrainian grain. Its implementation does not suit Moscow.

Lavrov will also take part in high-level open debates on “effective multilateralism through the defense of the principles of the UN Charter” and “the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.”

On the subject: Lavrov goes to New York: the United States issued him a visa to participate in the UN General Assembly

It is possible that on the sidelines of the UN, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry will hold meetings with representatives of some states. However, among them are unlikely to be Americans. White House Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby stressed that he had no data on upcoming conversations between US officials and Lavrov.

The United States promised to give Sergey Lavrov a cold welcome in New York. Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov spoke about this back in mid-April: “We were unambiguously warned at the State Department at a very high level.”

US visas are part of the cold shoulder

The United States issued visas to Russian diplomats for a very long time to participate in a meeting of the UN Security Council, but nevertheless they issued them. But Russian journalists did not wait for American visas and were forced to stay in Moscow.

Radio Russia columnist Nikolai Mamulashvili, who was supposed to accompany Lavrov to New York, said the American embassy had kept journalists on their toes until the very last moment. According to him, a few days before the planned departure to New York, when journalists from the ministerial pool, along with Sergey Lavrov, were on a tour of Latin America, a message came that the United States was allegedly ready to issue visas to representatives of the Russian press.

“We flew to Moscow from a trip to Latin America on April 21. And on Saturday morning they were supposed to arrive with passports at the US Embassy. Arrived there at the appointed time. A man from the diplomatic mission came out to us and took our passports. We asked him when the visas would be ready. He shrugged his shoulders and left,” Mamulashvili said.

On April 23, the journalists went to the airport, hoping that they would have time to get visas before departure. One of them was on duty at the embassy waiting for passports.

“Time passed, but the situation did not change. In the end, it became clear that we were not given visas. When the plane was already “under steam”, Sergei Viktorovich came out to us and made a statement. According to him, the American side acted dishonorably and cowardly,” the journalist said.