The U.S. Embassy in Russia has announced it will stop issuing visas for non-diplomatic travel. This was announced on Friday April 30 Press service American diplomatic mission.
“The review of documents for non-immigrant and non-diplomatic visas will be completed,” the statement said.
In addition, the US Embassy in Moscow has announced that it will reduce the number of consular services provided from May 12 due to Moscow’s decision to ban the hiring of foreigners. In addition, the staff of the consulate will be reduced by 75%.
On April 27, it was learned that the Russian government would soon publish a list of “hostile countries” in accordance with a presidential decree signed on April 23.
According to Izvestia, the list may include countries like the United States, Britain, Poland, the Czech Republic, Canada and the Baltic republics. According to the decree, the diplomatic missions of these states will not be able to hire Russians.
In turn, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow has the right to apply its recruitment practices to the activities of the US Embassy in Russia – this was a response to Washington’s measures.
The “diplomatic” escalation between Russia and Western countries began on April 15, when the United States, along with the introduction of new sanctions, expelled 10 Russian diplomats. Moscow responded to this in a mirror fashion, and also banned the US diplomatic mission from hiring citizens of the Russian Federation.
Next, Lavrov said the Russian Federation was launching a process that would end the practice of hiring US diplomatic missions in the country of citizens of Russia and third countries. In addition, Moscow is ending the practice of unlimited travel for employees of the State Department and other departments of the United States on short-term business trips to work in U.S. diplomatic missions in the Russian Federation.
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