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Problems of Russian and US envoys can be mitigated quickly, says top diplomat

In response to Washington’s sanctions against Moscow and the expulsion of Russian diplomats, the country imposed some restrictions on hiring citizens of Russia and third countries by the US diplomatic mission

STOCKHOLM, December 2. / TASS /. Russian and US diplomats are able to quickly resolve the ongoing challenges, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday.

"There exist some ‘domestic’ problems, I mean the problems faced by Russian diplomats in the US. Well, in response, we had to strive to create similar conditions for the US envoys in our country," the top diplomat stated.

"I believe that this is one of those issues that can be resolved very quickly and thereby, we can demonstrate that we are able to find common ground, as our presidents want," Lavrov noted.

In response to Washington’s sanctions against Moscow and the expulsion of Russian diplomats, the country imposed some restrictions on hiring citizens of Russia and third countries by the US diplomatic mission. The US Embassy announced that from May 12, it would reduce the number of consular services, in particular, suspending the consideration of documents for visas if they were not intended for diplomatic travel. Since August 1, some 120 employees are working in the US Embassy in Russia, which is the lowest figure in the past five years.

On Saturday, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov noted that as many as 27 Russian diplomats and their families would be forced to leave the US on January 30, while the same number of the Russian diplomatic mission was going to leave the country on June 30, 2022. The envoy mentioned that the problems with visas that the Russian diplomats faced had not been resolved so far, and their families were deliberately separated.

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