Russia: Progress Made on US Visas for Diplomats, More Work Needed

MOSCOW, June 24. /TASS/. The situation with issuing US visas to Russian diplomats has made some progress, but there is still a lot of work to be done on the issue, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told the Izvestia daily.

"We would like to move toward fully normalizing the functioning of our diplomatic missions. Things aren’t all bad. Visas are being issued to official delegations. American officials have begun visiting us. We’ve seen, among other things, their significant participation in events at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. However, this is only one aspect. In this sense, the situation differs from what we saw a year ago and earlier," he said.

Russia and the United States still have a long way to go to fully normalize relations on this issue, Ryabkov noted, adding that much depends on Washington’s political will, the existence of which is debatable.

The long-standing and entrenched anti-Russian consensus within the American elite, particularly in Congress, the media, and "major think tanks," is hampering the search for necessary solutions, he said. This consensus is creating limitations and dragging relations down, the official added.

"We will continue to persistently explain to our American colleagues that the benefits of normalizing relations far outweigh the essentially ephemeral gestures that the administration is sending to anti-Russian sections of the American political class through the lack of such progress," he stressed.