The Russian foreign Ministry blamed the visa Department of the USA in insufficiently effective work
The Russian foreign Ministry commented on the US decision to change the order of registration of visas to citizens of Russia.
The Russian foreign Ministry urged the US “not to direct shadow on the fence” and not to use the reduction of personnel in Russia as an excuse to add the “irritants” in relations between the two countries.
The Russian foreign Ministry called the far-fetched thesis that a reduction in the number of employees of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Russia prevents the normal exercise of consular functions.
In reality the problem lies elsewhere — in the lack of effectiveness of the visa departments of representations of the USA in Russia. At the time, as, for example, consular employees 16 Italy has processed in the past year 478 thousand visa requests, and 5 their Spanish colleagues-diplomats gave the Russians 877 thousand visas, at times more the staff of the consulates of the United States was able to “overpower” only about 186 thousand.THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
The U.S. Embassy in Russia on August 21 announced the suspension of non-immigrant visa throughout the territory of the Russian Federation from August 23. On September 1, the procedure of issuing visas will be renewed, but they can be obtained only in Moscow: in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok interviews will not be held. Such measures Embassy associated with limiting the number of employees of the US diplomatic mission in Russia.