Voting on Russian Resolution to Relocate UN First Committee Scheduled for Next Week - Diplomat

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - The UN General Assembly First Committee will vote next week on a Russian-proposed resolution to relocate its work from New York to Vienna or Geneva given the United States’ refusal to grant visas to diplomats, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva Andrey Belousov said.

"I assume the resolution would be submitted for a vote in the middle of the next week", Belousov stated on Friday. "The First Committee has started to proceed with a vote on resolutions; today is the first day".

In October, Russia submitted a formal proposal to relocate the UN General Assembly First Committee amid the visa policies of the host country.

When the United States denied visas to several members of the Russian delegation to the UN General Assembly’s high-level week in September, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow may resort to advocating for the relocation of the UN headquarters to ensure that all delegates have access to the world body.

Earlier in October, Russia’s Deputy Envoy to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy proposed to relocate the First Committee from New York to either Vienna or Geneva, citing obstacles that the Russian diplomats encountered in obtaining US visas.

The UN headquarters lies in an extraterritorial zone governed by the 1947 Headquarters Agreement between the United Nations and the United States. According to Article IX, Section 23 of this document, the headquarters can be relocated should the United Nations so decide.