"This is about problems facing people from the Russian Defense Ministry. Russian officers, who were selected through a competition and appointed by a decision of the UN secretary general at the secretariat offices dealing with military issues, are forced to wait for US visas for months. Some of visa requests are being considered for more than a year", Zakharova said in a statement published on the ministry's website.
According to the spokeswoman, this was happening with Guterres "clearly failing to act" and "de facto ignoring" the breach of the agreement on UN headquarters.
Earlier in December, Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the Russian upper house's Foreign Affairs Committee, said he had been denied a US visa for the UN General Assembly (UNGA) once again. This was not the only such incident, as a delegation from the Federal Treasury has recently failed to obtain US visas as well.
In September, ten members of the Russian delegation were denied visas to attend the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in New York. In response, Moscow accused the US of violating its international obligations by failing to issue visas to the Russian delegation. In particular, Leonid Slutsky, Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the Russian upper house's foreign affairs committee, and other members of the delegation were denied visas.