🎙 Interview by Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department of International Organisations Kirill Logvinov with TASS news agency (September 23, 2026)

Key points:

• The schedule of events that members of the Russian delegation will attend on the sidelines of the #UNGA High-Level Week will be subject to change until the last moment, as invitations are still coming in.

• Sergey Lavrov already has a busy schedule of bilateral meetings, primarily with representatives of friendly countries, as well as other major global players.

• Sergey Lavrov is scheduled to address the General Debate of the 81st Session of the UNGA on Saturday, September 26. That same day, the Head of the Russian delegation will hold his traditional press conference to conclude his visit to New York.

• Dialogue with the US on removing irritants in bilateral relations, including restrictions on staff at Russia’s Permanent Mission to the UN, continues.

❗️ Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alimov, who oversees UN affairs, has not been issued a visa. Failure to issue a visa constitutes a serious violation of US obligations as the host country of the UN Headquarters.

• Russia continues to press for proceedings to be initiated over the ongoing US violations of its obligations as the host country of the UN Headquarters. This is not a demand of our own, but a specific requirement reiterated year after year in the relevant UNGA resolutions.

• Regrettably, the current UN Secretary-General has consistently evaded implementing these resolutions and the relevant provisions of the 1947 UN Headquarters Agreement. Under Guterres, the UN Secretariat has effectively admitted its inability to fulfil its duty to safeguard normal working conditions for permanent missions to the UN.

• We will, of course, continue to insist that this issue be resolved as soon as possible. We expect the next Secretary-General to initiate arbitration proceedings and, more broadly, to discharge his duties conscientiously and in full accordance with the UN Charter. We would not want to hear the future head of the Secretariat resort to Guterres-style excuses: “We could, but why bother” ⁉️

• Guterres’ tenure as UN Secretary-General will be remembered for repeatedly overstepping his mandate and departing from the fundamental norms and principles of the UN Charter, which the Secretary-General is called upon to uphold. This has been reflected in politically biased statements, actions taken without consulting member states, and reliance on decisions that lack the broadest possible support.

• Ultimately, Guterres’ actions have seriously undermined trust in the UN. These failings have been most blatant in the context of the Ukraine crisis.

• These issues will also be raised at the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Ukraine on September 23. This will provide Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with another opportunity to explain in detail the goals and objectives of the special military operation, including ensuring that the rights of Russians and Russian-speaking people in Ukraine are respected.

• We have plenty to say to those in the West who support Kiev with money and weapons, and to UN Secretariat officials who seek to “prioritise” certain principles of the UN Charter over others. In the presence of delegations from our allies in the anti-Hitler coalition, we will highlight the ongoing Nazification of Ukraine.

Read in full (Telegraph - unofficial translation)