Ban Ki-moon
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during Putin's welcome reception for foreign delegations' heads and honorary guests in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2015. Russia marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe on Saturday with a military parade, showcasing new military hardware at a time when relations with the West have hit lows not seen since the Cold War. REUTERS/Host Photo Agency/RIA Novosti

A Russian lawmaker has made a suggestion to move the United Nations headquarters to a neutral country like Switzerland. Igor Zotov, a member of the defense committee of the lower house of Russia’s parliament State Duma, requested Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that the headquarters of the intergovernmental organization should be moved from the U.S.

Zotov said that placing the U.N. Headquarters in the U.S. was a mistake of the Soviet foreign policy. According to him, the decision might have been a result of a good personal relation between the former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and his American counterpart, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

“I do believe that the deployment of the UN in one of the member countries of the Security Council was a mistake in the number of Soviet foreign policy mistake of Stalin,” Russian newspaper Izvestia quoted Zotov as saying. “The organization should be placed in a neutral country, and then the problems faced by many countries, not only Russia, with regards to participation in UN activities, it would not be.”

However, according to Zotov, it was a mistake in the long term.

"In today’s conditions, strengthen its role as the ultimate arbitrator on the international arena rather than become a tool of influence in the hands of the United States," Russia's Tass news agency translated the original quote.

The Russian politician referred to the recent U.S. visa restrictions for the speaker of the Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko, who was not allowed to attend all planned events on U.N. sites in New York.

"The visa issuance procedure allows Washington to influence the presence of representatives of undesired or partially recognized states at sessions of the UN General Assembly or working meetings as part of activity of other international institutions of the organization," Zotov said.

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