The session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC), which was to be held in Kazan from 19 to 30 June, has been postponed indefinitely. This was reported by the UNESCO Directorate on Thursday.
"The decision to postpone officially came into force on Thursday at 13:00 Paris time (14:00 Moscow time)," said the headquarters of the organization. UNESCO did not specify where and when the annual session will now take place.
On Wednesday, Grigory Ordzhonikidze, Executive Secretary of the Russian Federation Commission for UNESCO, told TASS that the Bureau of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, being under pressure from the West, decided to postpone the session of the committee in Kazan. He stressed that the current situation at UNESCO is "extremely politicized". Ordzhonikidze also pointed to the campaign launched by the West against Russia because of the situation in Ukraine. "In connection with Russia's special military operation to protect the republics of Donbass, Westerners have launched an unprecedented scale of diplomatic harassment of our country aimed at curbing the constructive, constructive contribution that we traditionally make to the statutory activities of the organization, including in the preservation of the world heritage," said the Russian representative.
According to him, the Russian side was ready to hold the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee in Kazan on time - June 19-30, and to take "all possible measures to overcome the logistical difficulties associated with the restriction of air traffic". "At the same time, we are well aware that the anti-Russian hysteria will have an extremely negative impact on the entire session," concluded Ordzhonikidze.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
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Based on materials from TASS