MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/. The US embassy in Moscow returned passports without visas to half of the journalists that were supposed to travel with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to New York, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

She was responding to a statement by US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy, who said Russian reporters could have flown to New York separately from the delegation after they got their visas.

"Russian reporters wouldn’t have been able to fly on their own because there are no direct flights from Moscow to New York," the diplomat said on Telegram. "Flying with transfers, they would have been able to reach the destination no sooner than at the end of Sergey Lavrov delegation’s visit to the UN headquarters."

"Half the journalists were given back their passports without visas," Zakharova said.

Lavrov’s delegation had difficulty getting US visas to travel to UN Security Council events on April 24 and 25. Members of the Russian news media didn’t get any visas. The US didn’t give any reason for the decision. The Russian foreign minister said the US was scared and assured reporters that Russia wouldn’t be "forgetful or forgiving" about the incident.