MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/. The suspension of the operations of Russian Consulates General in the US obstructs full-fledged work with detained compatriots in this country, particularly under the conditions of the increased arrests of Russians in third countries requested by US authorities, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Friday.
"All of this is done under the conditions of our consular capabilities there reducing due to US actions: the Consulates General were closed, geographically there is a difficulty to conduct normal consular operations," she said. "There are a lot of our citizens, compatriots. Now, unfortunately, it is impossible to have them come in, serve them, issue documents because the US closed a number of Consulates General. Accordingly, the potential of consular workers from Washington is engaged and all of this creates very serious additional complications to our work," she explained.
However, according to the spokeswoman, Russian diplomats in the US provide comprehensive consular legal aid to the arrested Russians, ensuring their rights and interests as well as a swift return home. She noted that such cases are under the Russian Embassy’s special control and are constantly discussed during talks with the American side at the Department of State and the Department of Justice.
The diplomat stressed that during contacts with the Americans, Russia is always pointing out the unacceptability of the practice of arresting Russians in third countries and is demanding an immediate cessation of this criminal "hunt." "We emphasize that the effective treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States of America on mutual legal aid on criminal cases of June 17, 1999, provides all opportunities to establish cooperation between the relevant agencies of our countries, the resolution of such situations within the framework of the legal field," she added.
"The staff are in constant touch with those arrested, their relatives, attorneys. <…> Our diplomats are also in contact with prison administrators. A very close attention is paid to the conditions of detention, the timely provision of qualified medical aid, the access to phone communications, electronic mail, arranging visits and this is even more difficult given the pandemic situation and, of course, the mayhem that Americans unleashed with the issuance but, actually, the non-issuance of visas to anyone at all in our country," the spokeswoman concluded.