US warns Moscow embassy could stop functioning in row over visas
POLITICS
28.10.2021 | 21:15The US embassy in Moscow could stop performing most functions next year unless there is progress with Russia on increasing the number of visas for diplomats, a US official has warned, The Guardian reported.
The United States earlier this month stopped processing visas in Moscow, and Russians are obliged to travel to the US embassy in Warsaw.
“We need to make progress soon,” a senior state department official told reporters.
“We’re going to confront the situation – not next month, but sometime next year – where it’s just difficult for us to continue with anything other than a caretaker presence at the embassy,” he said.
“We will do everything humanly possible to keep that mission open,” he said, while warning that more functions of the embassy, such as sending diplomatic cables, would become difficult without more staff.