Russian Ambassador Stresses Complexity of Dialogue With UK on Visas for Russian Diplomats

LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th November, 2019) The dialogue with the United Kingdom on issuing visas for Russian diplomats is proceeding with difficulties, Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin said on Tuesday.

"We are currently conducting quite a complicated dialogue with the British on arranging normal visa issuance for those who come here for long-term work.

Everything should be normalized, and we should resume the previous practice, when application processing did not take more than 90 days. We have made attempts to reach agreement during a year, but the attempts have, unfortunately, been disrupted, and it has not been our fault," Kelin told Russian journalists.

After the Salisbury incident in March 2018, when London groundlessly accused Moscow of being behind the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, the United Kingdom expelled 23 Russian diplomats, and Russia responded in kind.