The State Department announced progress on visas with Russia

The representative of the department noted that the US policy, including the requirement for Russian diplomats to leave the country, is aimed at achieving parity between the diplomatic missions of the two countries

The State Department reported progress on visas with Russia

The Embassy of the Russian Federation in the United States, Washington, the United States and Russia have made progress on the issue of diplomatic visas, writes TASS with reference to a representative of the State Department.

“These are current issues that we continue to deal with. In recent days, we have made progress on bilateral issues and hope to continue moving in this direction,” the agency interlocutor said. He stressed that a functioning embassy is crucial for diplomacy.

Earlier, the deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Yevgeny Ivanov, said that consultations on the issuance of visas between Moscow and Washington are not easy, but “some solutions are”, and some progress has been achieved.

In April of this year, the United States expelled ten Russian diplomats from Washington. In response, the Russian side banned the American embassy from hiring employees from Russia or other countries. Because of this ban, Washington has reduced more than 180 employees in diplomatic missions in Moscow, Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg. After the mutual staff cuts, 100 American diplomats remained in Russia, and 400 Russian diplomats in the United States, American senators wrote in a letter to Joe Biden. They called on the President to increase the number of embassy staff in Moscow.

In October, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that the United States had demanded that 55 Russian diplomats and diplomatic mission staff leave the country in the coming months. According to Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov, the spouses of diplomats are revoked accreditation, and children are not issued visas. Antonov warned that such an outflow of employees could lead to “personnel starvation”. The deputy head of the press service of the US State Department, Jalina Porter, stressed that such a measure was introduced to “ensure parity between the diplomatic missions of the United States and Russia”.

The representative of the State Department stressed to TASS that the diplomats in question have been in the United States for more than three years. They were notified that at the end of their business trip they would have to leave the country (the United States limited the terms of business trips of employees of Russian diplomatic missions in the country to three years). The interlocutor of the agency added that the approach of the American side is aimed at achieving parity between the diplomatic missions of the two states and establishing “more stable and predictable relations with Russia”.

Zakharova previously stated that Moscow regards Washington’s actions as an expulsion. By January 31 next year, employees of the US Embassy who have worked in the country for more than three years will leave Russia. After July 1, another group of diplomats will leave Moscow if the United States does not compromise.

In November, Russia asked the UN to start arbitration proceedings due to problems with issuing American visas to diplomats. According to Sergey Leonidchenko, a representative in the Sixth Committee of the UN General Assembly, the Russian delegation has been facing problems in this area for more than four years. He mentioned visa denials to employees of the Permanent Mission of Russia to the UN and delegates from Moscow.

In early August, the US Embassy in Russia announced the termination of consular services for Russians, inviting them to apply to embassies in other countries to obtain nonimmigrant visas. In November, Sergei Koshelev, the envoy-adviser of the Russian embassy in Washington, said that there was a chance to agree on the resumption of issuing visas to the United States in Russia.

On Friday, The Washington Post reported on a “breakthrough” in negotiations on issuing visas to employees of the American embassy in Moscow. According to the newspaper’s sources, a final agreement may be reached in December.

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