Russia recognized the United States as an unfriendly country: this will significantly slow down the issuance of visas in Moscow

Recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree according to which the embassies of "unfriendly countries" have no right to hire Russian citizens. This was a response to the fact that the United States had previously imposed a number of sanctions against Russia, its citizens and companies, as well as the fact that many countries expelled Russian diplomats. The edition told in more detail Voice of America.

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Recently, the United States was included in the list of such countries. For American embassies, such a ban will be quite tangible. The US Embassy in Russia is recruiting translators, cultural exchange specialists, service personnel, and many other local workers. In different years, their share was almost 70% of the entire state.

Former Voice of America employee Maria Lvova worked at the US Embassy in Moscow for 20 years. She notes that Russians play an important role in promoting cultural and scientific exchanges between countries, from internship programs for students and teachers to supporting business cooperation and connections with public organizations.

“American diplomats usually come to their host country for two to three years, and they do not have the opportunity to get up to speed on things for a long time and find out who is who. And here, of course, local employees who have been working in the department for years are invaluable,” Lvova explained.

At the same time, the Russian Embassy in the United States does not accept American citizens at work. Therefore, this step cannot be called mirror-like. Similar measures have already been taken earlier, in 1986, when an espionage scandal erupted. As a result, this led to a significant reduction in diplomatic missions in both countries.

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And it was then that Russia banned the hiring of Russians. This cost the US Embassy more than half its staff. The remaining colleagues had new responsibilities, recalls Steven Pifer, who then worked in Moscow and later the US Ambassador to Ukraine.

“It went like this: for five days you do regular work, and on the sixth day you do administrative work. In my case, this meant that I first worked on the arms reduction policy, and then, on the 6th day, I put on jeans and work clothes, explains Steven Pifer. “I drove a truck in college, so I became a truck driver at the embassy.” I picked up diplomatic parcels at the airport, supplies from a Finnish store at the station, transported furniture, etc.”

The period of the diplomatic war in 1986 was also found in Moscow by the former US ambassador to Turkmenistan, Allan Mustard. According to him, the goal of the Soviet leadership was to paralyze the work of the embassy.

He notes that the embassy lost not only drivers and security guards, but also very valuable specialists who were difficult to replace. To solve the problem of the lack of technical personnel, the State Department had to reduce the number of diplomats working in Moscow, and send Americans to replace them to perform economic functions.

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This situation was resolved only after the collapse of the Soviet Union - then the Russian government allowed the hiring of Russians again.

The ban period, however, caused problems not only for American diplomats, but also for Russians. Allan Mustard explains the practical consequences of such a policy as follows: “If a Russian citizen wants an American visa, and the staff of the consular department has decreased, then, of course, this citizen will wait for an American visa for a long time. And this is not one example. From a commercial point of view, let's say those who want to trade with the United States are looking for help from the American commercial department of the embassy. But if the staff of this department has been reduced, then such assistance will also be limited. "

However, the current situation could be even worse. Problems with employees at the embassy appeared back in 2017. Then, after another round of diplomatic confrontation, the number of American diplomats in Russia decreased almost threefold. As a result, in December, the United States announced the closure of consulates in Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• On Friday, April 23, Putin signed a decree according to which states "committing unfriendly acts" against Russia, will be limited in the right to hire Russian citizens: now their number is determined by the quota. The President also provided for the possibility of a complete ban on the employment of Russians in the embassies of such states: if introduced, they will be able to provide their work only at the expense of their own citizens. Among others, the United States is on this list.

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