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Aeroflot says its crews have valid US visas to perform flights for several months

The crews of Russian flag carrier Aeroflot have US visas to perform flights to the United States for several months

© Yuri Smityuk/TASS

MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. The crews of Russian flag carrier Aeroflot have US visas to perform flights to the United States for several months, the company’s press service told TASS on Friday.

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"At the moment, according to our assessments, there are enough visas to keep the flights for several months," the company said.

The pilots and flight attendants may have to work overtime in the wake of the situation with the visas, it noted.

On Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Russia and the US could be left without direct flights due to the difficulties the crews of the Russian Aeroflot flagship carrier have with getting US visas. The ministry recalled that the obligation to issue visas to aircrews had been enshrined in the 1994 Russian-US Air Transport Agreement. Aeroflot later confirmed its crews were facing difficulties with getting US visas.

The Kremlin believes that Washington has deliberately created difficulties with issuing visas to Russian pilots, and there are no objective reasons for such a situation, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. US diplomatic staff cuts have not affected the Consular Section in any way, he noted.

The news that Aeroflot’s crews may face problems with extending or obtaining US visas broke in early April. The US Embassy in Moscow refuted reports that it refused to issue US visas to Aeroflot’s staff. It linked possible problems with getting US visas with a high demand and diplomatic staff cuts.

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