US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan commented on the situation with the termination of the issuance of visas to the Russians. He told about it in a conversation with RBC.
According to him, the rejection of issuing visas in the United States to Russian citizens was “not so much a solution as a fact.” He noted that before the Washington embassy in Moscow, there was a consular department in which 60 people worked, issued immigration and non-adventure visas. However, due to the expulsion of American diplomats and the law, which forbidden to hire local workers, there are less than five people in this department, the ambassador was added. “We simply do not have people to fulfill this work,” said American diplomat.
At the same time, Sullivan stressed that this situation causes him very much regret. He also noted that this is a serious problem, and Washington is doing everything possible to solve it.
Earlier, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the US government seized the diplomatic property of the Russian embassy in Washington. “Absolutely unacceptably violates all conceivable diplomatic canons and the Convention that Americans seized and keep under the control of our diplomatic property,” the Russian minister said. He also noted that the embassy staff do not allow for work places so that they can understand, “what is happening there now.”