Putin to lead Russian delegation to General Assembly's 75th session, to address it online

MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will lead Russia’s delegation to the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly but will address the gathering online, as follows from the president’s decree posted on the official internet portal of legal information on Tuesday. "The Russian delegation to the 75th session of the General Assembly includes: Putin V.V., President of the Russian Federation (head of the delegation)," the document reads. After the president (in the format of a video address) and president’s aide Yuri Ushakov complete their participation, the Russian delegation will be led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The Russian delegation will also include chairman of the international committee of Russia’s Federation Council upper parliament house Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the international committee of the Russian State Duma lower parliament house Leonid Slutsky, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin, director of the foreign ministry’s nonproliferation and arms control department Vladimir Yermakov, director of the foreign ministry’s legal department Yevgeny Zagainov, director of the foreign ministry’s international organizations department Pyotr Ilyichev, and Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya. The UNGA High-level Week will be held from September 22 through September 29, 2020. Most of the leaders will address the Assembly in a video format because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Putin plans to focus attention in his speech at the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly on the challenge presented to the world by the coronavirus pandemic, his press secretary Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Tuesday. "What can one speak about at the United Nations? About the unprecedented challenge the pandemic has thrown down to us. About numerous problems of humankind this pandemic has aggravated. About these things, naturally," he said when asked about possible topics of Putin’s speech. Read more