US almost completely stops issuing visas to Russians, Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW (TASS): Russian consular offices in the United States, despite the obstacles posed by Washington, continue to issue visas in full. This is stated in the response of the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Maria Zakharova to a media question, circulated on Wednesday.
“The Russian consular offices in the United States, which are drained of personnel due to the refusal of the US Department of State to issue visas to our new employees to replace those who have completed their business trip and returned to their homeland, nevertheless continue visa processing in full.”
“For this, among other consular actions, including help our fellow citizens in trouble, additionally take on the processing of visa applications, “Zakharova said.
At the same time, the diplomat expressed regret that the Americans practically stopped issuing visas to the Russian Federation, referring to the personnel shortage.
“The shooters are being transferred to the Russian authorities, which have banned the hiring of local personnel as consular assistants,” she continued.
The official representative of the Russian diplomatic service recalled that the Russian Olympic champion Maria Lasitskene, who because of this missed the competition in the United States, failed to obtain an American visa.
“There are intolerable situations when, for example, the Russian Olympic champion Maria Lasitskene, due to the inability to obtain a visa, was forced to miss the Diamond League competition in the United States,” she summed up.
Zakharova drew attention to the fact that thousands of Russians are now in such a situation, whom the American diplomatic mission in the Russian Federation proposes to contact the US diplomatic mission in other countries. “The question is: where is this notorious American” open society “and why is it now so closed to Russians by the Washington” visa palisade “?” – she summed up.
USA imposed a duty of 210% on the import of pipes from Russia: The US Department of Commerce has introduced import duties on a number of items of steel pipes from the Russian Federation, Ukraine and South Korea , while the duty on Russian pipes reaches almost 210%, follows from a document posted in the US Federal Register .
“Based on the positive final decisions of the Ministry of Commerce and the International Trade Commission, the Ministry of Trade is introducing anti-dumping duties on seamless standard, main and pressure pipes made of carbon and alloy steel from Korea, Russia and Ukraine,” the statement said.
For Russian pipes, the duty was 209.72%, for Korean – 4.44% (adjusted for compensation for export subsidies), and for Ukrainian – 23.75%.
In early August, the US Department of Commerce announced its intention to impose duties on a number of steel pipes, as the US International Trade Commission determined that the country is suffering losses due to the fact that the export of these pipes to the United States is at a price “below fair.”