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US refuses to provide full list of Russian prisoners, says diplomat

According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, there are certain positive changes regarding Russian citizens, detained in other countries

MOSCOW, July 23. /TASS/. US State Department ignores Russian requests to provide a full list of Russian citizens in custody on the US territory, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday.

"The situation in the US causes special concerns: the US authorities deliberately avoid obligations, laid upon them by the bilateral Consular Convention of 1964. Those are unconditional obligations to inform Russian consular officials about apprehension of arrest of a Russian citizen," Zakharova said. "The Foreign Ministry’s requests for the Department of State to provide a full named list of Russian citizens in US custody are traditionally left without response.

According to Zakharova, there are certain positive changes regarding Russian citizens, detained in other countries. In particular, one Russian national was recently pardoned in Azerbaijan, prison terms for 21 other Russians were shortened.

"Most foreign agencies note the absence of any spike of complaints regarding custody conditions, in particular - in regards to compliance with sanitary norms of medical aid," the diplomat said.