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Moscow accuses US of deliberately delaying visas for Russian diplomats

The file photo shows US and Russian flags at the US Embassy in Moscow. (By AP)

Moscow says the United States is deliberately delaying the issuing of visas for Russian officials, warning that the move could further damage the already strained relations.

The US embassy in Moscow refused to issue visas for a delegation of Russian treasury officials who were due to attend an international audit management conference in Washington on Tuesday, according to the Russian embassy in Washington.

“We are concerned about the US State Department’s lack of will to ensure the proper work of its own consular organizations under lame pretexts,” said the embassy said in a statement.

“Such actions by US authorities are leading to a further degradation of already uneasy relations between the two countries,” it added.

The US mission in Moscow has not reacted to the allegations, but it has claimed in the past that its consular section has been understaffed since Moscow ordered it to sharply cut its staff number in Russia in 2017.

The Russian embassy, however, said it did not believe the claims.

Back then, the US had to cut the number of its diplomats in Russia, after the approval by the US Congress of a sanctions bill against Moscow.

Back in September, Washington refused to issue visas to members of a Russian delegation traveling to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Moscow summoned a senior US diplomat to protest the move which it described as “unacceptable.”


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