The decision is already in effect. The standoff continues between Washington and Moscow over the size of their respective embassies: the United States has stopped issuing immigration visas to Russia, forcing Russians who want to apply to go to Poland.
American diplomacy justified this very restrictive change on Sunday by the restrictions imposed by the Russian authorities, who for their part denounced “a humiliation close to sadism”. “We will no longer give new appointments for immigration visas to Russian nationals in Moscow,” a spokesman for the US State Department told AFP. These meetings are transferred to the United States Embassy in Warsaw, he added, specifying that this has already been the case since October 12.
Russia relegated to Iran or Cuba
On the State Department website, Russia was added to the list of countries “where the United States does not have consular representation or whose political or security situation is sufficiently precarious or uncertain for consular staff limited is not allowed to consider ‘visa applications. The ten or so countries concerned include states at war or enemies of Washington such as Cuba, Iran, Venezuela or Syria.
“We are aware that this is an important change for visa applicants,” assured the spokesperson, calling on them not to plan a trip to Poland before having an appointment assigned for a meeting. He acknowledged that this was not an “ideal solution”.
The US Embassy had to part ways with local employees
According to American diplomacy, it is “the decision of the Russian government to prohibit the United States from employing” locally Russian personnel or of third countries which is at the origin of this decision. This “seriously affects” its “ability to provide consular services” as the US embassy has had to part with dozens of local staff.
“The extremely limited number of consular employees in Russia currently does not allow us to guarantee routine visa or assistance services to American citizens,” said the spokesperson for the State Department.
The issuance of ordinary work visas had already been suspended in May, for similar reasons, but Washington had warned this summer that other measures were possible. Overall, the US Embassy in Moscow will continue to provide only “diplomatic or official visas”.
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