Russia's Participation In San Francisco Summit 'Consistent With U.S. Obligations As Host', State Dept Says
The United States on Tuesday defended its decision to allow Russia's EU-sanctioned Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk to represent the Kremlin at this week's high-level Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco, despite U.S. efforts to isolate Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, TURAN's Washington correspondent reporters.
"... I will let the EU speak to their sanctions. I will say that as the host of APEC, we have a responsibility... We take our host obligation responsibility – and that includes hosting officials from all the members of APEC, but we do it consistent with U.S. sanctions policy and rules and regulations," State Department's Spokesperson Matthew Miller told a daily briefing when responding to TURAN's questions.
Unlike Vladimir Putin and other Russian leaders, Overchuk is not specifically under U.S. sanctions, although he is under a variety of Western sanctions including from the EU.
Asked by TURAN whether his visit to the U.S. violates EU sanctions, Miller said: "I’m not going to get into technical sanctions questions. I will say we have an obligation as the host."
He went on to add. "... [O]ne of the things about diplomacy is you attend a lot of meetings with people whose policies you object to, and sometimes you object to things that they’ve done, but we have a responsibility to conduct diplomacy on behalf of the United States."
According to the White House, President Joe Biden and the First Lady will this evening host a welcome reception for APEC Leaders in San Francisco.
The summit will officially kick off tomorrow as Bidem will participate in a family photo with APEC economies and guest economies, and will host an APEC Informal Dialogue and Working Lunch. He will then deliver remarks and participate in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework family photo.
On Friday, Biden will host the APEC Leaders Retreat and will formally transfer the APEC Chair to President Boluarte of Peru.
Politics
-
Over the past year and a half, 218 employees of the Azerbaijani State Service for Mobilization and Conscription have been brought to various measures of responsibility, the message of the civil service.
-
The Presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan, Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev, met today at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Astana. Putin noted the "positive interaction" of bilateral relations "on a key issue, namely trade and economic cooperation." “The trade turnover is more than four billion dollars, and 4.3 - 4.5 billion dollars are direct Russian investments in the economy of Azerbaijan. The trend is good: in the first half of the year, in my opinion, there was already a 13 percent growth, in general, everything is developing positively,” Putin said. He particularly noted the side's plans in the field of infrastructure, where "the well-known North-South highway is in the first place."
-
On 3 July the Khatai district court considered petitions for transfer of "Abzas Media" director Ulvi Hasanli, editor-in-chief Sevinj Vagifgyzy and journalist Elnara Gasymova to house arrest. Their lawyers informed Turan about it.
-
Azerbaijan refused to cooperate with the Council of Europe Committee for Prevention of Torture. The structure regarded this as a violation by Azerbaijan of the European Convention for Prevention of Torture. The Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee (CPT) has released a public statement on Azerbaijan today.
Leave a review