What happened? US representatives "can't be heard or seen in any way" in Geneva — Permanent Representative

For the first time, representatives of the US delegation in Geneva do not enter into polemics and do not show activity at meetings of various UN bodies, which is extremely atypical for them. This was stated by the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva Gennady Gatilov.

The American delegation now has "complete uncertainty and misunderstanding" of how to act in international organizations after the decisions taken by the new US President Donald Trump, Gatilov told TASS.

"In many bodies, they are not active at all, they just sit and listen, which is uncharacteristic for the American delegation. For example, the Conference on disarmament, where the Americans and I constantly entered into discussions, defending our positions. They accused us, we stated our position, and so on. Now, during the last few meetings, their representatives have not been heard or seen at all," the diplomat noted.

As Gatilov stressed, for the time that he has been in office, he sees such a situation for the first time. According to his estimates, it is connected with the uncertainty of Washington's positions and its future course on the issue of the US withdrawal from the UN bodies.

"Apparently, American diplomats have not yet received relevant instructions from the State Department, from the White House, how to behave. Therefore, this is the incomprehensible situation they have now," the permanent representative suggested.

As reported, on January 21, Trump signed an executive order on the US withdrawal from the WHO, justifying his decision with disproportionately high contributions compared to other countries. On February 4, the White House press pool reported that the president also signed an executive order on the US withdrawal from the The UN Human Rights Council and from The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.