MOSCOW, September 9. /TASS/. Britain has refused to consider visa applications from several TASS employees, given a job assignment in that country, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on Thursday.

"[BBC correspondent] Sarah Rainsford intentionally misleads the public, as she tries to persuade her audience such incidents are very rare. TASS attempts to send colleagues to replace its correspondent ended in failure. This happened several times. The BBC knows about that. So does Sarah Rainsford. The necessary application documents presented by several TASS employees were just not accepted for consideration," Zakharova said.

She went on to say that Russia would refrain from a tit-for-tat response to the acts of discrimination against Russian journalists in Britain, because London's steps look pretty much like humiliation and insults.

"London indulges in refusals to grant visas and in other manipulations in relation to Russian journalists. The BBC is well aware of this. We notified them of this more than once. We drew their attention to this problem," Zakharova said. "Also, we drew London's attention to the fact that we will have to retaliate, although not tit- for-tat. Certainly, we are not going to resort to the kind of treatment Russian journalists were exposed to, because, I would like to stress this, it would be pretty close to humiliation and insults."

Response measures

At the same time, Moscow confirms its readiness to issue a visa to Rainsford, if Britain takes a similar step towards the Russian journalist who was earlier denied entry permission, Zakharova said.

"Mrs. Rainsford continues to make public statements that cast doubts on her professional diligence and elementary human ethics, as well as her attitude to journalism and journalists," Zakharova said, commenting on a recent interview by the BBC correspondent.

The Russian journalists involved said that Rainsford had not asked them for a comment or explanations regarding London's refusal to grant them visas.

"Her departure is a direct and immediate result of many years of systematic and groundless discrimination against Russian journalists by the British authorities," Zakharova said.

Rainsford's visa expired on August 31 and she left Moscow.

Earlier, the Union of Journalists of Russia urged an end to the discrimination against Russian journalists abroad, in particular, in Britain. The Union of Russian Journalists said that "this has nothing to do with the British authorities' professed commitment to freedom of speech and information".