MOSCOW: Russia will not take part in a virtual ministerial meeting convened by the United States to combat the Covid-19 pandemic due to the organizational difficulties and tight schedule of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and wishes the participants success, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
She recalled that the United States was holding a virtual meeting of foreign ministers on November 10 on the topic of combating the coronavirus pandemic. According to Zakharova, Moscow does not have detailed information about the program and its participants.
"We received information about the upcoming event only at the very end of October. By that time, the work schedule of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had been formed and did not allow him to take part in the said meeting. Since the US side announced that it was not ready to include persons other than foreign ministers in the list of participants, it was not possible to send another representative of the Russian side," Zakharova said in a commentary.
Zakharova noted that Moscow wished the participants of the event success.
"For our part, we are actively preparing for the special session of the World Health Assembly in Geneva scheduled for November 29-December 1," Zakharova added.
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