The US State Department, through its actions in recent years, has turned the procedure for obtaining a visa for Russians into "real hell," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
Thus, she commented on the inclusion by the State Department of Russians who want to get an American visa to the category of "homeless nationalities."
Zakharova drew attention to the fact that American diplomats for many years destroyed the system of rendering consular services in Russia: they closed consulates, reduced the number of consular staff, "experimented with how our symmetrical response differs from the mirror one."
“They have turned a technical procedure banal for the 21st century into a real hell, based on mockery on the verge of sadism,” the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.
By such actions, the United States is simultaneously destroying its own ideals of freedom, as well as striking a blow to tourism and cultural exchanges, Zakharova noted.
“This is a blow to families and relatives - those ties that form the living tissue of relations between countries and peoples inhabiting them.
For people who sincerely believed the assurances of Western thought about freedom of movement.
A blow has been inflicted on sports, science and much more, ”she said.
The spokesman for the foreign policy department added that as soon as it comes to the case and the fate of specific people, "human rights are suddenly out of place on Washington's list of priorities."
Earlier, on the website of the State Department, a document was published in which Russian citizens applying for an American visa were included in the category of Homeless Nationalities - "homeless nationalities."
As follows from the document, citizens of countries in which the United States does not have a consular mission are entered into this category.
Also, citizens are entered there if the United States considers it impossible to consider an application for a visa due to the unstable political situation in the country.
According to the ministry, such citizens are assigned to the consulate of one of the neighboring states.
In the published document, citizens of ten states are included in the list of "homeless nationalities": Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Russia, Libya, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.
The document also notes that Russians can apply for an American visa in Warsaw.
© wikimedia commons / Darpaw
At the same time, later, the press secretary of the US Embassy in Moscow, Jason Rebholz, said that Russians can apply for a visa in any country.
“We have announced on our website that Russian citizens can apply for nonimmigrant visas at any US embassy or consulate.
This has been going on for quite a long time, ”RIA Novosti quotes him as saying.
Recall that in April the United States introduced a new package of sanctions against Russia, which, among other things, provided for the expulsion of ten Russian diplomats from the country.
After that, the Russian government, on behalf of President Vladimir Putin, approved a list of unfriendly countries, which included the United States and the Czech Republic, which had also previously announced the expulsion of a number of employees of the Russian diplomatic mission.
According to the document adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers, US diplomatic structures cannot hire administrative and technical workers from among the citizens of the Russian Federation.
For Czech representations, a quota of 19 Russians was introduced.
In June, in an interview with RT, Maria Zakharova explained that the countries involved in this list pursued an anti-Russian policy, made many years of attempts to contain Russia, came up with new sanctions, expelled diplomats and implemented information campaigns against Moscow.
“What did they get from this?
At least all experts say that the collective West has lost much more from the measures they wanted to take against Russia to harm us.
If you wanted to harm us, you hurt yourself, ”she stressed.
In August, the US embassy in Moscow recommended that Russians apply for nonimmigrant visas at US diplomatic missions in other countries.
The embassy spokesman said the actions of the Russian government forced the United States to cut its consular staff by 75% and made it impossible to provide the corresponding services.
“The consideration of non-immigrant visas for non-diplomatic travel, as well as the provision of other routine services for American citizens and the processing of applications for immigrant visas, have been suspended indefinitely.
Applicants for a visa should contact the US embassies or consulates outside the Russian Federation, ”a representative of the diplomatic mission told TASS.
In September, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, answering a question from journalists, said that Russia "will not beg" the United States to return the Consulate General in St. Petersburg.
“It's up to them to decide, we will not beg them to resume the work of the consulate general here ... But we never asked them to close the consulate general, as they did.
It was their initiative, ”Lavrov said.
In mid-October, US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland paid a visit to Russia and held meetings at the Foreign Ministry and the Presidential Administration.
One of the topics was the issue of issuing visas.
In particular, Nuland talked with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
Later he said that Russia and the United States are planning to hold specialized consultations on visa issues and the work of diplomatic missions.
He stressed that the fact that the parties came to an understanding of the need for such consultations "in itself is not bad, but there are no guarantees that agreements will be reached."
"The Russian side will strive for this, but this requires reciprocal readiness," Ryabkov said.
At the same time, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov noted that the Russian diplomatic missions in the United States continue to issue visas for Americans in full.
“I can assure you that Russian diplomatic missions in the United States continue to process visas in full, despite the difficult personnel situation due to the ongoing“ visa war ”through no fault of ours,” he said, speaking to the participants in the meeting of the US-Russia Business Council.