Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin (Russian Foreign Ministry press service)

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin pointed out that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has not yet made any particular steps on launching an arbitration process against the United States over visa problems, adding that Russia will seek this procedure.

"Our demand for the start of arbitration on this issue was not formulated today or yesterday. We have been demanding this for a long time. This demand was repeated during our last contact with the Secretary General. And we will repeat it again," Vershinin said.

The Russian official added that so far, "there have been no specific actions on the part of the [UN] Secretary General on this issue."

Earlier this month, Moscow slammed Washington's decision not to issue visas to the Russian reporters who were supposed to accompany Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to the UN Security Council, saying that the United States breached its pledges to protect freedom of speech.

"There is plenty of evidence that Americans are violating their obligations," Vershinin told journalists, adding that the US is "obliged to provide visas, to comply with the requirements that arise in connection with the holding of international events here, on the UN platform. This does not happen. This has been going on for years."

US interested in keeping embassy in Moscow open: Russian Deputy FM

In a related context, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister indicated that Washington is interested in maintaining the work of its embassy in Moscow, although relations between Russia and the United States are at an extremely low level.

"We have a lot of problems in our bilateral contacts. Basically, there are none. Our relations are at an extremely low, if not zero, level," Vershinin noted.

He specified that there is an exchange between Russia and the United States at an expert level regarding various concerns and issues in bilateral relations.

"I can tell you that the Americans are interested in maintaining the functioning of their embassy in Moscow," the Russian diplomat told reporters.

Vershinin made clear that Russia is working with the United States on the basis of the principle of full reciprocity, underlining that "if any unfriendly actions are taken against the Russian Federation on a bilateral basis, the American side will immediately receive exactly the same reaction."

Guterres’ Grain Deal proposals under consideration

Touching on the Grain Deal, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said the ideas on the Black Sea Grain Initiative formulated by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres are being considered and worked out in an interdepartmental format.

"We can say that some new ideas are contained in the proposals that the UN Secretary General formulated and submitted through the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation [Sergey Lavrov] for consideration to Russian President Vladimir Putin," Vershinin told reporters.

On Wednesday, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Guterres' letter to Putin on the grain deal had been handed over via diplomatic channels and was being considered.

"And we have already said several times that these proposals are being considered and worked out in an interdepartmental format," Vershinin noted.

However, speaking about the prospects for extending the Grain Deal beyond May 18, the Russian diplomat considered that there are no tangible results that would indicate that Russia's demands under the Black Sea Grain Initiative have been met, but there is still time before the grain deal expires.

"Assessments of the progress have been outlined. Today we are at the end of April, we still have time. For now, I will repeat what we are saying publicly at different levels — we have no concrete results that would indicate progress in meeting our demands," Vershinin said.