Ryabkov: the resumption of work of the consulates of the Russian Federation and the United States is not a matter of today

He explained that “artificial restrictions” on travel should be eliminated on a mutual basis. It is also necessary to clean up unprecedented rubble in the field of visas – people need to wait for confirmation for months or even years to go on long trips abroad, Ryabkov said. We have seen the relevant public signals from high-ranking U.S. officials and we treat them with great attention. But, as a first step, it is still necessary to normalize the work of those who are already performing their functions in Washington, in our Consulates General in the United States, the Russian diplomat said in an interview with RIA Novosti. Before we talk about increasing the number of embassies, we need to understand what is happening now. “Because we will not increase the staff if, as before, we carry out swap schemes: one for one, and at a pace that takes weeks for each candidate,” he said. At the same time, he noted that the resumption of the work of consulates general in both countries is on the agenda, but this is not a matter of today. The talks between Moscow and Washington took place on February 18 in Saudi Arabia. On the Russian side, they were attended by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, on the US side – the presidential assistant for national security Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the US leader’s special envoy for the Middle East Stephen Whitkoff. Among the issues discussed are the normalization of relations between states, the sphere of economy, the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine.

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