Russia and the United States will hold another round of talks on the work of diplomatic missions

by time news

Russia and the US have reached an agreement to hold another round of talks on the issue of restrictions on the work of embassies, Interfax reports, citing US State Department spokesman Ned Price.

“We agreed to hold another round of negotiations. We hope that the continuation of the negotiation process will make it possible to find a solution to the problem, ”Price said at the briefing.

According to him, Washington expects to achieve “parity in the number of personnel, reciprocity in the issue of visas.” “We need a fair solution, flexibility,” – said the representative of the State Department.

On October 12, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and US Deputy Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland discussed the work of the foreign missions of the two countries during a meeting in Moscow. Later, the Russian Foreign Ministry offered Washington to remove all mutual restrictions on the work of diplomatic missions. At the same time, Ryabkov, after meeting with Nuland, said that he did not exclude further aggravation in relations with the United States. The diplomat noted that the parties failed to achieve much progress on issues related to the issuance of visas, the restoration of the number of diplomatic personnel and the work of foreign missions in the two countries.

On April 23, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree according to which embassies and consulates of countries committing unfriendly actions towards Russia were banned from hiring people on Russian territory, and already concluded labor contracts were ordered to be terminated. The list of unfriendly countries includes the United States and the Czech Republic.

Since May 12, the US Embassy in Moscow has stopped issuing any nonimmigrant visas, except diplomatic ones, to Russian citizens, and the number of employees of the American consular department in Moscow has decreased by 75%. On April 1, the issuance of visas was suspended by the US Consulate General in Yekaterinburg, and before that the American diplomatic mission in Vladivostok stopped working. Earlier, the American side has repeatedly introduced restrictions on the work of Russian diplomats in the United States.

.

You may also like

Leave a Comment