OREANDA-NEWS. Russia formally submitted to the UN a draft decision on transferring the work of the First Committee of the General Assembly on Disarmament Issues from New York to Vienna or Geneva. This was announced on Thursday to the Russian media by a diplomatic source in the committee. Earlier, representatives of the Russian Federation declared the possibility of such a decision due to the refusal of US visas to a third of the Russian delegation participating in the committee.

The Committee on Disarmament Affairs traditionally begins its work in early October and meets almost daily on a monthly basis. According to the protocol, the documents could be submitted for consideration by the committee until October 17, that is, the Russian delegation until the last moment considered this decision.

The representative of the UN Secretary General Stefan Dujarric has repeatedly noted that the decision to change the venue of the committee meetings can be made by the member countries of the organization by voting, and not the secretariat.