MOSCOW, August 1. /TASS/. Certain progress has been achieved in the issue of providing Russian visas for US teachers meant to work in the Anglo-American School of Moscow, Information and Press Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told TASS on Thursday.
"There is progress achieved on the basis of reciprocity. At the same time, we want this issue to be fully resolved," the department clarified.
Earlier, The New York Times reported that the Russian authorities had denied entry visas for 30 teachers of the Anglo-American School of Moscow, where particularly children of foreign diplomats and businessmen are studying. The school serves around 1,200 children of different ages, including the ones whose parents are American, British, Canadian, German and South Korean diplomats. Russian kids are also among the students. The newspaper suggests that some of the students would probably have to be asked to leave due to teacher shortages. It also believes that it will not affect the kids of US, British and Canadian diplomats because they are enjoying admission priorities.
The Russian Foreign Ministry slammed the reports suggesting that American teachers were refused Russian visas as an outright lie, because the teachers were heading to Russia with diplomatic passports, while the school operates as a commercial enterprise. The diplomatic agency underlined that Moscow had been requesting that Russia and the US come to the negotiating table to determine the school’s status to resolve all the existing issues on the basis of reciprocity.