U.S. to sharply curtail visa services in Russia
MOSCOW — The U.S. diplomatic mission to Russia said Monday that it planned to sharply reduce visa services because of Moscow’s order to cut its staff, the latest in a series of tit-for-tat penalties by the two countries.
The embassy said in a statement that, beginning Wednesday, it would suspend the issuance of all non-immigrant visas — like those for business, work and tourism — and that from Sept. 1 it would issue such visas only in Moscow “for as long as our staffing levels are reduced.”
The Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said during a news conference in Moscow that the announcement was “another attempt to make the Russian citizen angry about the actions of the Russian government.”
Lavrov said that he doubted the embassy’s justification for the cutbacks in visa services.
“The American diplomatic school, diplomatic service, just as the Russian one, has great traditions and experience in preparing professional staff,”
Ambassador to U.S. named
A career Russian diplomat, who gained the reputation as a hawk during his earlier tenure at the Defense Ministry, was named the new ambassador to the United States on Monday.
The 62-year-old Anatoly Antonov was appointed to the job by President Vladimir Putin’s order, according to the Kremlin.
Antonov takes the job at a time when U.S.-Russia relations are badly strained following the approval of a new wave of U.S. sanctions against Moscow and the Kremlin’s decision to sharply cut the U.S. diplomatic personnel in Russia.
He succeeds Sergei Kislyak, who found himself in the center of controversy amid claims of Russia’s interference in the U.S. presidential vote. he said. He added that the U.S. argument that its workers cannot issue the same number of visas with reduced staff disrespected the “capabilities and possibilities of the American diplomatic service.”
Lavrov said the ministry was studying the matter and would have a response at a later date.
Last month, Congress imposed a fresh round of sanctions on Russia for its meddling in elections and its aggressive behavior toward neighboring countries. In response, President Vladimir Putin ordered the U.S. Embassy to cut 755 positions in the country — roughly twothirds — by Sept. 1.
Staff reductions have already begun, the embassy said.
The U.S. Embassy and the consulates in St. Petersburg, Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg issued 182,958 nonimmigrant visas in 2016, 136,665 of those in Moscow, according to an official report.
Under the new procedures, Russians in or near Moscow will have to wait as long as six months for a U.S. visa. For those in distant regions, especially the Far East, travel to the U.S. will be much more difficult, if not impossible.
“They have direct flights to the U.S., but, of course, few people will want to travel over the whole country to Moscow to get a visa first,” Irina Tyurina, a spokesman for the Russian Tourism Industry Union, told the Interfax news agency.