US unlawful acts against Russia’s included in UN report

Upon Moscow’s demand, the UN Secretary General’s report, which is due to be released in October, will include data on the US unlawful acts against Russia’s diplomatic property, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said in an interview with TASS.

"We sent to the UN Secretary General information about the unlawful acts committed by the US authorities against the property and staff members of the Russian embassy, the consulates and the permanent mission to the UN. This data has been included in the report of Antonio Guterres, which will be discussed in October by the sixth (legal) committee," Nebenzya said in an interview ahead of a high-level week of the 73rd UN General Assembly.

Nebenzya noted that the unsolved issues related to the diplomatic property continue accumulating although back in 2017 the UN General Assembly decided that all illegal restrictions against Russia’s facility should be removed.

"Access to the premises of the permanent mission in Oyster Bay has been still blocked, and most recently a significant number of our staff members were expelled under a far-fetched pretext," the diplomat said.

"Here in New York we are doing our utmost to convince the Americans to return to the path of honoring the international law," Nebenzya assured. "We will seek this during the 73rd session of the General Assembly, which has opened."

In September 2017, the US authorities closed down the Russian Consulate General in San Francisco and the trade mission in Washington, which are owned by the Russian government and enjoy diplomatic immunity, as well as the New York branch of the trade mission, which Russia had been renting, as part of anti-Russian sanctions. Moscow described Washington's motion as an overtly hostile act and urged the US authorities to turn them back immediately. On March 26, 2018, Washington announced the closure of Russia’s Consulate General in Seattle (the building was rented by Russia) and the consul general’s residence (Russia’s diplomatic property).

Speaking at a news conference in Xiamen, China, after the BRICS summit in September 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would instruct the Foreign Ministry to file a lawsuit in a US court over the seizure of Russia’s diplomatic property.