MOSCOW, October 25. /TASS/. Russia and the US are holding working discussions on granting US consular staff access for visiting Americans detained in Russia, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told journalists.

"All appeals regarding consular access are considered in accordance with the established procedure. We have no deviations from all existing norms and regulations governing this area," Ryabkov said in response to a TASS question about US consular access to Alsu Kurmasheva, a Prague-based editor in the Tatar-Bashkir Service at US government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (designated as a foreign agent media outlet in Russia). "The issue of visiting the persons they mentioned is being discussed with the Americans in a working manner."

Earlier, a court in Kazan, Tatarstan Region, ordered that Kurmasheva be remanded to pre-trial detention until December 5. She was detained on suspicion of committing a crime under Part 3, Article 330.1 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Failure to fulfill the legally mandated obligation to submit to the relevant authorities documents required for inclusion in the register of foreign agents, committed by a person engaged in the systematic collection of information about Russia’s military and military-technical activities, which, if obtained by foreign sources, may be used against the security of the Russian Federation").

Kurmasheva, a citizen of Russia and the United States, is married with two children and lives in Prague. She has no prior criminal record.