NEW YORK, April 24. /TASS/. Russia’s Consulate-General in New York has had to use the reserve of cash at its disposal and to resort to austerity measures after its account in the Bank of America was blocked on March 16. Yet, the consulate remains fully operational, acting Consul-General Vyacheslav Slavkin told TASS on Sunday.
"Before all that happened, we created a certain cash reserve in anticipation of some unpleasant things that might occur. The cash we have enables us, on the condition we take austerity measures, to pay the electricity and utility bills and for car fuel, to a certain extent, although we have restricted the use of motor transport. Also, we can pay salary to our staff," he said.
Slavkin added that in the current situation Moscow allowed the consulate to use consular fees to fund current operations, although the amount of such work has reduced dramatically, as far fewer people turn for visas these days.
Slavkin stressed that the consulate was operating without any restrictions.
"We furnish assistance to Russian citizens in restoring passports and powers of attorney and issue visas to US citizens without any restrictions," he said.
Earlier on Sunday Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said on the Rossya-1 television news channel the Bank of America closed the accounts of Russia’s general consulates in Houston and New York and the embassy was in fact "blockaded by US government structures.".
Date of new consul-general’s arrival
Russia’s new consul in New York who will replace Sergey Ovsyannikov has not been appointed yet and, given the current visa situation, it is hard to tell when a substitute might arrive, Slavkin told.
"Ovsyannikov left last week. Now I’m acting consul-general. The man who had been initially appointed will not be coming, because the Americans have denied him a visa. No new consul has been appointed yet. Then there will follow the visa procedure. We have no idea how much time the formalities regarding the new consul will take."
Slavkin pointed to the remaining great problems with obtaining US visas.
"Not a single person has arrived since last autumn. The consulate’s staff has been slashed by two-thirds," he stressed.
Starting from 2021 the United States has been demanding that the assignments of Russian diplomats should not last for more than three years. Those who have been in the US longer are denied visa prolongation. Consul-General Sergey Ovsyannikov left New York in the middle of April. A group of five diplomats keeps working at the consulate.
Daily threats
Russia’s consulate-general in New York receives daily threats in both Russian and English, acting consul-general Vyacheslav Slavkin has told TASS.
"We receive threats and insults by e-mail from both Russian and English speakers. At the end of February we were warned Molotov cocktails would be thrown at us. We contacted US agencies concerned and asked them to guarantee our security. Last week we received a bomb threat message. In both cases the threats turned out to be fake," he said.
Earlier, the consulate-general’s building on Manhattan was vandalized. "Eggs were thrown and the walls were stained. We cleaned everything. Now it is more or less normal," Slavkin said.
Three police patrols are responsible for maintaining the security of the consulate general’s building round the clock.