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Russia welcomes U.S. decision to facilitate visa formalities

The resolution conforms to the spirit of a joint statement on visa issues made by Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama, said Russian Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW, March 15 (Itar-Tass) — The Russian Foreign Ministry has reacted to a decision made by the U.S. authorities to facilitate the order of issuance of visas to Russian citizens as "the evidence of a positive change in the U.S. visa practice".

“We regard the decision made by the U.S. authorities to facilitate the order of issuance of visas to Russian citizens, who go to the United States for purposes of tourism, business, on private visits and in transit, as the evidence of a positive change in the U.S. visa practice, which promotes broadening of contacts between our countries and people," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

According to the new visa formalities which took effect as of March 9 Russian citizens who earlier had U.S. visas of this category are relieved of a repeated interview at a U.S. consulate if a period since their previous U.S. visa expired does not exceed 47 months.

"The resolution conforms to the spirit of a joint statement on visa issues made by Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama in Deauville last May and a bilateral agreement on facilitating visa formalities, which is being prepared for ratification by the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, and which we hope will come into force soon," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

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