Russia `alarmed’ at no US visas to attend UN leaders meeting

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia’s U.N. ambassador says it’s “alarming” that less than three weeks before the annual meeting of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly not a single member of the 56-member Russian advance team and delegation headed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has received an entry visa to the United States. Vassily Nebenzia says in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres obtained Friday night by The Associated Press that “this is even more alarming since for the last several months the authorities of the United States have been constantly refusing to grant entry visas” to Russians seeking to participate in U.N. events.