Vladimir Putin will neither go nor speak at 77th UN General Assembly

Russian President Vladimir Putin has refused to go to the 77th UN General Assembly in September. The Russian delegation at the assembly will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Kremlin's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Peskov also said that Putin refused to speak at the session. The last time when the Russian president spoke at the General Assembly was in September 2020.

In addition to Foreign Minister Lavrov, the Russian delegation will include: Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin, chairmen of State Duma and Federation Council committees on international affairs Leonid Slutsky and Grigory Karasin, as well as a number of department directors of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Earlier it became known that Presidents of the United States and Ukraine Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky would speak at the 77th session of the Assembly. According to the program of the meeting, US President's speech is scheduled for September 20, whereas Zelensky will speak on September 21.