Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to attend the United Nations 70th General Assembly in New York in September, according to an order outlining the members of the Russian delegation. The document was signed by Putin and published on the government's legal information portal on Friday.
The visit to New York will be Putin's first in 10 years. He will be joined by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the General Assembly, who will take over as head of the Russian delegation after Putin returns to Moscow.
The Russian delegation will include Alexei Pushkov, head of the State Duma's Foreign Affairs Committee, and Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin.
Putin last attended the UN General Assembly in 2005. Before that, he attended in 2003 and 2000, Interfax news agency reported Friday. In 2009, then-President Dmitry Medvedev spoke before the General Assembly. Lavrov has led the Russian delegation every other time.
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