All news
7 Sep 2021, 01:46

Staff of Russian consulate in New York down almost three-fold due to US visa policy

Deputy Consul General in New York Vyacheslav Slavkin added that, despite this, the preparations for the election are proceeding as usual

NEW YORK, September 7. /TASS/. The number of employees at the Russian Consulate General in New York has decreased almost three-fold due to US’ policy in issuing visas, Deputy Consul General in New York Vyacheslav Slavkin told TASS on Monday.

"We began preparing for the election in advance because we know that we are expecting a large surge of citizens while, unfortunately, the number of our staffers is very limited. Our Consulate General has a decreased number of diplomats, almost three-fold, because the Americans do not issue visas," he noted talking about the preparations for the September 19 State Duma election.

The diplomat added that, despite this, the preparations for the election are proceeding as usual. "We don’t see any problems. In accordance with the established procedure, we informed the authorities of the host country about holding the election so the appropriate US authorities can provide the corresponding security regime. We were promised utmost cooperation in these issues, so we are ready to welcome the voters," he continued.

Earlier, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov told The National Interest magazine in an interview that last December Washington had handed Russia a list of 24 diplomats who were to leave the country by September 3 due to a unilaterally established three-year limit on the assignment period for Russian personnel in the US. Additionally, the ambassador said that the US authorities canceled valid visas of diplomats’ spouses and children without any explanation.

US State Department Spokesman Ned Price stated that the US does not want escalation with Russia with regards to the work of diplomats of the two countries. According to him, the limitation on the length of diplomatic tours in the US is designated to balance the operations of missions. In response, the Russian ambassador noted that the Russian side lately issued 22 visas to the US Embassy staff in Moscow while Washington extended the visa for only one Russian diplomat which contradicts earlier agreements. At the same time, the US Embassy in Moscow recommended to Russians to apply for non-immigrant visas at US diplomatic missions in other countries.