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Russia to begin procedure to terminate agreement with US on diplomats’ trips

MOSCOW, April 16. /TASS/. Russia has decided to start the procedure of terminating the agreement with the US by which diplomats are required to present simple notifications for making long trips about the host country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference on Friday.

"Our countries have an open land treaty by which certain categories of diplomats (senior staff excluded) from counsellor and all the way down are to notify the authorities of the host country each time they plan a trip beyond the 25-mile zone around the general consulate’s host city. The Americans completely ignore the requirement for sending any notifications," Lavrov said. "We have made a decision to start the procedure of terminating this agreement. And possibly we will treat the diplomats’ requests for trips beyond the defined zone of residence on the individual basis."

Lavrov recalled that another violation of the agreement had been committed not long ago when officers of the US military attache’s office "travelled around Central Russia without any notification." "When asked by corresponding officials why they did not have a notification, they simply ignored, saying they won’t do that," he added.