🇷🇺 Statement by Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov under Agenda Item 14 of the 42nd Session of the UNIDO Programme and Budget Committee: «Adoption of the Report»

📍Vienna, June 23, 2026

On the issue of Austria's failure to fulfill its international obligations under the Agreement regarding the UNIDO Headquarters

💬 We are compelled to raise the issue of the persistent failure by the Austrian authorities to fulfill their obligations to issue long-term visas for diplomats and technical staff posted to the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation in Vienna, including to deal with UNIDO issues. Our prolonged attempts to resolve this question bilaterally have not yielded satisfactory results. Due to the position of the Austrian authorities, the format of the Multilateral Diplomatic Committee (MDC) under the auspices of UNIDO has also proven ineffective. Its meetings serve more as a forum for exchanging opinions and have no practical value for resolving pressing issues of the diplomatic community in Vienna. This is primarily due to the fact that Austrian representatives invited to MDC meetings often fail to attend or leave the meeting before the topics on the agenda begin to be discussed. Therefore, we are forced to raise this issue publicly. 

The Austrian authorities' approach has led to problems of critical proportions. Vienna unreasonably and under false, politicized pretexts delays issuing entry documents, or deliberately delays responding, only to inform us months, and in some cases years, later that visas for new employees have been denied. 

I will provide a few examples. A candidate for the position of my deputy, who was supposed to oversee Russia's cooperation with UNIDO, waited seven months for a long-term visa and was ultimately denied it. Moreover, he was simultaneously denied a short-term visa, even though he had previously received such visas numerous times as head of the Russian delegation to sessions of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Another member of the Russian delegation, the legendary cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union and Hero of Russia Mr. Sergey Krikalev received a visa only on the eve of the opening of the session, when it was too late for him to arrive to Vienna in time for the start of work. Mr. Krikalev took this as a mockery and refused to go to Vienna. In response, we were forced to block the Committee's decision to hold the major space forum UNISPACE in Vienna in 2027. How could it be otherwise if the potential host country doesn't understand the difference between right and wrong? 

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We deem such behavior unacceptable and contrary to the commitments, under which the Austrian Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Wolfgang Schüssel put his signature on 29 November 1995. These commitments are contained in the Agreement between the Austrian authorities and UNIDO regarding the Headquarters of this UN agency in Vienna. In accordance with Article X of this Agreement, Vienna committed to issuing entry visas "as promptly as possible." We emphasize that this is an international legal obligation. It is understood that these provisions have also been incorporated by Austria into its national legislation, but they, too, are not being implemented. 

We would like to emphasize that there is every reason to believe that Russian diplomats, administrative and technical staff, and their families are being deliberately discriminated against compared to other UNIDO Member States. Incidentally, as far as we know, other European countries hosting UN organizations, in particular Switzerland and Italy, process Russian visa applications within a reasonable timeframe. Typically, this process takes up to two months. 

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