How employees of the US diplomatic mission in Russia are fired

Фото: Depositphotos

According to the decision of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from July 28, to September 1, the US embassy in Russia must reduce its membership to 455 people, firing 755 employees.

Edition RBC interviewed sources who know how the US embassy plans to execute this decision to find out how the dismissals are going.

According to them, of those who lose their jobs, at least 600 people are employees employed in Russia, and only about a hundred are Americans. For example, in Yekaterinburg, almost 60% of employees hired in Russia were reduced. Abbreviations also took place at consulates in St. Petersburg and Vladivostok.

Reduced employees receive a certificate signed by US Ambassador to Russia John Tefft stating that they were “forcedly” fired on August 31 “in accordance with a diplomatic note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, which required a reduction in the number of US embassy staff and consulates USA in Russia to 455 people. "

Sources noted that “very generous” monetary compensation would be paid to dismissed Russian citizens in accordance with the Russian Labor Code. Employees who have worked at the embassy for more than 15 years will be able to apply for a green card.

As a result of the cuts, the US Embassy in Russia suspended the issuance of non-immigrant visas from 23 August to 1 September of this year. The issuance of renewed 1 September, but will occur only in Moscow (before the visa could also be obtained in the consulate general in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok).

Reduction of staff will also hit the cultural projects implemented by the embassy. Although the diplomatic department tried to keep a balance and equally reduce all departments, the division responsible for cultural cooperation suffered the most. There, work lost more than two-thirds of the previous composition.

With the participation of the Department of Culture in Russia, tours of American musicians and performances by lecturers from American universities take place. The department also helps organize academic and professional exchange programs in which over the past ten years more than 50 thousands of Russian and US citizens have participated.

Mutual expulsion from the countries of American and Russian diplomats began on December 29 2016 of the year, when 44 of US President Barack Obama signed a decree obliging Russian diplomats 35 to leave America. This document also closed their colleagues with access to two real estate properties in the states of New York and Maryland, which, according to American intelligence, were used by Russians for espionage.

In response, Russia banned the US Embassy from using a summer cottage in Serebryany Bor and storage facilities on Dorozhnaya Street in the south of Moscow. Russian authorities also expressed the need reducing the American embassy to xnumx people, to equalize their number with the number of employees in the Russian diplomatic mission in the United States.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson promised that Washington decides to respond before September 1.

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