President Biden and first lady Jill Biden were among hundreds of world leaders who paid their respects to the monarch as she is in state. Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska met with the royal family as her country’s representative, the BBC reports. Controversial invitations have also been extended to Chinese President Xi Jinping and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, although the BBC reports that neither is expected to attend. However, not all world leaders made the invite list. The leaders of these countries will not attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Russia and Belarus Russia and Belarus were both slapped with sanctions earlier this year in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The UK has imposed sanctions on Russia as part of Western efforts to isolate Moscow and damage the country’s economy. Neighboring Belarus has also come under fire for actions by its leader, President Alexander Lukashenko, to facilitate Russia’s war in Ukraine. A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman called the lack of an invitation for Russian President Vladimir Putin “deeply unethical,” according to Britain’s Sky News. Syria and Venezuela Syria and Venezuela did not receive invitations because they do not have full diplomatic relations with the UK, according to Reuters. The UK closed its embassy in Syria in 2011 and was one of the first countries to recognize its opposition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people. In 2019, the UK joined the US in recognizing opposition figure Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s leader, refusing to recognize President Nicolas Maduro, who remains in office. Afghanistan The Taliban have struggled to win any international recognition since their takeover last year, accusing the US of being the “biggest obstacle” to diplomatic legitimacy. The UK ambassador to the UN said last month that “the situation in Afghanistan remains critical” and that “the human rights situation is grim”. Myanmar The UK announced new sanctions against Myanmar earlier this year, part of a coordinated move with the US and Canada to punish the country’s military regime after it took power in a violent coup last year. Tensions rise amid frustration over Manchin’s mystery deal Russian pop icon speaks out against Putin’s war in Ukraine Ambassadors only: North Korea, Nicaragua and Iran North Korea, Nicaragua and Iran were allowed to send ambassadors, but not their heads of state, according to the Telegraph — meaning North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Iran’s Ebrahim Raisi are among the uninvited heads of state. The UK last year joined other Western powers in condemning North Korea for its human rights abuses and weapons of mass destruction programmes, calling the country “one of the most repressive and totalitarian regimes in the world”. In June, the UK criticized China and Russia for vetoing new UN sanctions on North Korea. After last year’s elections in Nicaragua, the UK government condemned the process as “neither free nor fair” and expressed concern about “the degradation of political and human rights” in the country. The government imposed sanctions on some high-ranking Nicaraguan politicians and officials after the election. The UK says it has a “large Iranian population” within its borders and, along with much of the West, has long been wary of Iran’s nuclear activities. Britain’s UN ambassador in June called Iran’s nuclear situation “a threat to international peace and security.”
