Washington, March 14 (Agency) The US hosting the UN headquarters is increasingly abusing its position for political gain, a Kremlin official said amid the ongoing Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine. The comment by Director of the Department of International Organizations of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Petr Ilichev, came days after 12 diplomats from Russia’s permanent mission to the UN, as well as their family members, had to leave the US soil after a string of quick sanctions were imposed by Washington on Russia following the invasion.
“Recently, the United States has been increasingly abusing its position as the host country of the UN headquarters to extract unilateral political benefits and put pressure on the missions of other countries,” told Sputnik. He cautioned such actions by Washington violate fundamental international legal norms, including those enshrined in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963. The Russian envoys and their kin arrived home after they were declared personae non grata by the Biden administration and ordered to leave the US by March 7.