The UN Secretariat confirmed that the microphone cut-off of Analena Berbock, President of the 80th UN General Assembly, during the presentation of the Russian delegation was due to a technical glitch.
“Our office contacted the UN Secretariat, which is dealing with equipment problems in the General Assembly hall, and they confirmed that the problem was with some of the technical equipment. Technical glitches have occurred all week at a high level and today was no exception“, said La Naise Collins, spokeswoman for the office of the President of the 80th UN General Assembly.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called The UN Secretariat is to investigate the cause of Berbock's microphone failure during the Russian delegation's presentation. According to Zakharova, either Berbock's microphone was turned off when she said "Russian Federation" or she turned it off herself.
On September 23, US President Donald Trump had technical problems at the UN headquarters. First, the escalator at the entrance stopped working just as the US president and first lady Melania Trump stepped on it. It never moved, so they had to walk up. During his speech, Trump said that his teleprompter had been out of order for some time and that he would not mind delivering the speech without it.
After Trump's speech, the UN said that the escalator incident was caused by a safety mechanism, possibly triggered by the operator. However, Trump called the escalator shutdown sabotage and called for an investigation and the arrest of those responsible.