MOSCOW, October 29. / TASS /. Russia again offers the United States to stop the “escalation flywheel” and start an honest, mutually respectful for all “irritants” in bilateral relations. This is stated in the widespread Friday comments representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Maria Zakharova.
“We again propose to stop the escalation flywheel and start a substantive, honest and mutually respectful conversation on all existing“ irritants ”in bilateral relations.
The comments emphasize that given the demands put forward by Washington that another 55 diplomas of the Russian Federation and administrative and economic workers should leave the United States in the coming months, “the situation on the diplomatic front will only worsen.” “We declare in this regard that stubbornness in the implementation of a confrontational scenario in the calculation of one-sided advantages, cutting off our oxygen, is the way to nowhere. that the American side now employs about 130 people in Russia, and less than 200 in the Russian mission in Washington and two consulates general in New York and Houston.
The diplomat also recalled that it was Washington that unleashed the “spiral of confrontation” by starting the destructive practice of confiscating Russian diplomatic property and expelling employees of Russian foreign missions. Americans are now reaping the benefits of their own aggressive and shortsighted policies. “, – stated the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
“And what is completely unheard of from the point of view of the canons of diplomacy and the concept of private property, the right to which in the United States has always been considered sacred, American raiding methods of the authorities seized six properties belonging to Russia, setting up a police cordon, and since then have not allowed Russian diplomats there.” – indicated in the comments.
Number of diplomatic staff
According to Zakharova, nothing prevents the United States from filling the quota of 455 people, the number of diplomatic personnel in the Russian Federation, including the much-demanded consuls.
“Nothing prevents the system, which has been repeatedly and at various levels said, to fully fill the more than sufficient quota of 455 people per headcount, including the much-demanded consuls,” the comments read. Instead, Zakharova noted, “Washington is deliberately leaking in the media incorrect statements about the alleged fourfold superiority of the diplomatic presence in the United States over the American in Russia.” “Moreover, it has nothing to do with bilateral diplomatic missions,” Zakharova added.
The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that Moscow does not see readiness for equal agreements in the assurances of the US representatives about their commitment to normalizing the work of diplomatic institutions. “We assume they are not being distributed,” she said.
“Complaints are being thrown in the public space that Moscow allegedly unreasonably banned the hiring of local staff. The kitchen is” in working mode, proceeding from the fact that in this difficult situation, no fault of its own, it is necessary to seek solutions within the framework of a professional dialogue, “concluded Zakharova.
On Wednesday, Reuters, citing a State Department official, reported that the US diplomatic presence in the Russian Federation could be reduced to representing a high technical rank of functions.
On Russia’s response to US actions
In response to the anti-Russian sanctions announced by Washington and another expulsion of Russian diplomats, Moscow imposed restrictions on the hiring of US diplomatic representatives of citizens of Russia and third countries. The US Embassy announced that from May 12 it will reduce the number of consular services, including the provision of documents for diplomatic travel.
The diplomatic mission noted that a limited number of immigration applications related to vital, emergency situations, as well as immigration applications that expire due to the applicant’s age, are considered.
As a representative of the American embassy in Moscow told TASS in August, Russians were advised to use nonimmigrant visas in US diplomatic missions in other countries. Since August 1, the US Embassy in the Russian Federation has continued to work in the minimum composition in five years.