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Russia issued 200 visas to US delegates during Pompeo’s Sochi visit, diplomat points out

25 September 2019 16:43 (UTC +04:00)

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has castigated the US for its failure to grant visas to some Russian delegates to the UN General Assembly in New York as a 'shameful' move, recalling that the US delegation to Sochi had been issued 200 visas, APA reports citing TASS.

Zakharova published on her Facebook page a comment by a US State Department official in connection with the latest visa row. The official said the US took its obligations under the UNHQ Agreement "seriously" and evaluated each visa application "on a case by case basis," and data on this was confidential.

"Do you know what "taking obligations seriously" means along with "evaluating visa applications on a case by case basis"? This is when the US delegation led by Mike Pompeo was issued 200 visas for a visit to Sochi [in May 2019]," Zakharova wrote.

"But to first accept passports and then give them back with an explanation "too early" and then take them and as a result failing to issue some 10 visas without any clear reason to people whose duties are directly linked to the UN work, it’s a shame, as Sergey Lavrov has said," she noted.