Zakharova commented on reduction of US Embassy consular services

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti): The United States has ceased to hide that for the sake of a policy of containing other countries, it is using strikes on the humanitarian dimension, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova .
“Washington did not even hide the fact that for the implementation of the policy of” containment “of the country for a long time uses a variety of tactics, including the strike on the humanitarian dimension which translated from Latin and diplomatic means -. For the people”, – he wrote in his Zakharova Telegram -channel, commenting the words of the US Ambassador to the Russian Federation John Sullivan that after August 1 the embassy will not be able to provide consular services in full due to Russia’s demand not to hire personnel from third countries.
Zakharova also added that the US Embassy “is not the first time and not the first year” is destroying its consular service in Russia. “And the staff was reduced, and announced the closure of the consulates general … The American partners do this solely from their own ideas about visa policy. Since the staff of the US consular institutions is formed exclusively by the American, and not by the Russian side,” she said.
Earlier, Sullivan recalled that the US embassy should bring the composition of its embassy in line with the new requirements by August 1. At the same time, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on June 25 that Moscow would not create obstacles if the US wanted to replace Russian embassy employees with US citizens, but the ceiling of 455 employees remained.
On April 15, the United States introduced new sanctions against the Russian Federation; 32 individuals and associations were affected by them. The sanctions also prohibit US financial institutions from buying Russian government bonds on IPOs after June 14. In addition, Washington has announced that it is expelling ten Russian diplomatic missions from the country. The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that the US sanctions course does not meet the interests of the peoples of the two countries.
Russia’s response to US sanctions includes both mirrored and asymmetric measures. In particular, the Russian Federation decided to denounce the agreement on the travel of American diplomats outside their places of base, as well as to prohibit Russians and third-country nationals from getting jobs at the US embassy or consulate general. Moscow also announced the termination of the activities of American funds and NGOs controlled by the State Department and other government agencies. In addition, the Russian Federation has included the US on the list of unfriendly states that are prohibited from hiring third-country nationals.