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US Embassy in Moscow has enough staff to issue visas to Russians, senior diplomat says

To date, not only are the employees of ministries and agencies encountering problems with obtaining visas, but so are all other citizens

MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/. The number of employees at the US Embassy in Moscow is sufficient to issue visas to Russians, Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Ivanov of Russia told journalists on Monday.

"We think that [the US Embassy in Moscow] is quite capable of issuing US visas, there is a sufficient number of employees," he emphasized.

According to him, at present, not only are the employees of ministries and agencies encountering problems with obtaining visas, but so are all other citizens.

"You know that the Americans practically do not issue visas in Moscow, this is related to the fact, as they say, that they do not have sufficient personnel who can process all these applications," the senior diplomat noted.

He pointed out that the moves on cutting back the number of diplomats began with the expulsion of Russian employees from the US. "We remember who started all these purges of diplomats, and for how long the Russian Federation had tolerated this and did not retaliate against the expulsions of our diplomats. And only after further action were the appropriate measures undertaken," the deputy foreign minister concluded.

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