UNITED NATIONS, June 27. /TASS/. US authorities are keeping 36 employees of Russia's Permanent Mission to the United Nations and 59 members of their families on a "waiting list" for visas, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Maria Zabolotskaya said, speaking at a meeting of the Committee on Relations with the Host Country.

"At the moment, there are 36 employees of the Permanent Mission and 59 members of their families on the ‘waiting list’ for visas. Among them, 57 people have already overstayed their current visas, and 15 have been waiting for a visa decision for over a year. All of these people are unable to travel, not only to third countries, but also to their home country, including for serious humanitarian reasons," she said. "By the way, their close relatives from Russia also cannot get entry visas to travel to visit their relatives living in the United States."

Zabolotskaya noted that, through its actions, "the US side is deliberately separating families." "Even with regard to prisoners, international standards, the so-called Nelson Mandela rules, require that prison sentences be served as close to the location of relatives as possible, so that prisoners can be visited. It turns out that, in this respect, Russian diplomats in the US are treated less favorably than convicted persons," she stated.

The Russian diplomat pointed out as well that the situation with new staff appointed to Russia’s Permanent Mission is also deteriorating, as more than half of the nearly 50 employees have been waiting for visas for more than three months.