From the MT:
“U.S. Embassy in Moscow to
Halt Visa, Consular Services From Aug. 1”
The United States’ Embassy in
Moscow will suspend visa and other consular services starting Aug. 1 due to a
hiring ban imposed by Russia, Ambassador John Sullivan told the independent
Dozhd broadcaster Sunday. The U.S.
Embassy in Moscow is Washington’s last remaining diplomatic mission in Russia
after it closed its St. Petersburg consulate in 2018 and downsized operations
at its Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg consulates earlier this year. Russia
banned the embassy from employing foreign nationals when it designated the U.S.
as an “unfriendly” country in May, forcing it to cut 75% of its staff.
“After Aug. 1, we will have very
few people working here, which is why we will not be able to provide the
consular services which, as I know, both Americans and Russians need so much,”
Sullivan told Dozhd. Russians will be
unable to apply for visas to visit, work, do business, study or live in the
United States from their home country, forcing them to apply for visas at U.S.
embassies in third-party countries. The
embassy will also no longer provide routine passport services, consular reports
of birth abroad and notarial services to U.S. citizens in Russia. “This is not
just an obstacle in terms of U.S.-Russia relations, this has serious personal
implications for families as well as commercial implications for businesses —
both in the U.S. and Russia,” Sullivan said.
Russia’s ban on hiring foreign
staff at U.S. diplomatic missions came amid a round of tit-for-tat diplomatic
expulsions as relations between Moscow and Washington plummeted this spring
over the conflict in eastern Ukraine, the jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei
Navalny and more. U.S. President Joe
Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to return their respective
ambassadors to their posts during their June 16 summit in Geneva. Sullivan
and his Russian counterpart, Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov, returned
to Moscow and Washington last week.
^ This is the lowest the
Russian-American Diplomatic Relations have been in 30 years. ^
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