The US mission in Russia introduced on Friday it’s letting go of greater than 200 workers after Moscow banned Washington from contracting non-American on its soil.
“Beginning in August, the Russian authorities is prohibiting america from retaining, hiring, or contracting Russian or third-country workers, besides our guard power,” US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken defined in an announcement.
“We’re deeply saddened that this motion will power us to let go of 182 native staff and dozens of contractors at our diplomatic services in Moscow, Vladivostok, and Yekaterinburg.
“These unlucky measures will severely affect the US mission to Russia’s operations, doubtlessly together with the security of our personnel in addition to our means to enagage in diplomacy with the russian authorities,” it added.
The Russian ban on non-American workers on the US mission services was introduced earlier this yr in response to Washington’s expulsion of Russian diplomats and tit-for-tat closures of quite a few diplomatic services in every nation.
These expulsions and closures got here within the context of U.S. sanctions imposed over Russian interference within the 2020 U.S. presidential election, the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain, and the arrest of opposition determine Alexei Navalny and crackdown on his supporters, in addition to involvement within the SolarWind hack of U.S. federal companies. All are actions that Russia has denied.
After the announcement of the ban, the embassy suspended routine consular providers and since Could has been processing immigrant visas solely within the case of life-or-death emergencies.
The suspension of consular providers has additionally left Russian businessmen, alternate college students and romantic companions adrift as a result of they’re not capable of receive U.S. visas in Russia.
Blinken stated that “america is immensely grateful for the tireless dedication and dedication of our domestically employed workers and contractors at U.S. Mission Russia.”
“We thank them for his or her contributions to the general operations and their work to enhance relations between our two international locations. Their dedication, experience and friendship have been a mainstay of Mission Russia for many years,” he added.
