Moscow-Washington: what happens to flights between Russia and the United States

Moscow accuses Washington of "blockade", Washington Moscow - in disinformation

The Russian side expressed fears that the air communication between Russia and the United States could soon cease, as pilots and flight attendants of Aeroflot allegedly do not issue American visas.

Moscow accuses Washington of "blockade", Washington Moscow - in disinformation.

The position of Aeroflot
The airline says that the crews have stopped issuing American visas. Employees with valid visas are too few to continue flights, said Aeroflot spokesman Maxim Fetisov.

"It is possible that pilots and flight attendants who have visas will work in the mode of processing," Fetisov quoted Interfax .

According to the TASS agency , Aeroflot appealed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation because of the problem with issuing visas to employees.

"Our visa center is trying to write down our pilots for visas, and it's impossible to write down, in fact," Fetisov said.

The Russian version
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on the ministry's website that it perceives a decline in the issuance of visas "with perplexity."

According to the ministry, in August 2017, the period for issuing US visas was increased to 85 days, and now it is 250 days.

"The visa blockade is built up by Washington absolutely deliberately and deliberately - as an additional lever of pressure," the Foreign Ministry said. "The US authorities seem to be afraid that visiting Russians will open their eyes to ordinary Americans for the absurdity of the anti-Russian propaganda they impose, and therefore purposefully impede contacts between people" .

The Office also reminded the US of "their obligations, including repeated requests for the issuance of visas to pilots of Aeroflot."

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transport reported that they did not receive complaints from representatives of Aeroflot.

The US version
The American embassy refutes the information that Aeroflot crews can not sign up for visa interviews.

"We regularly reserve time intervals for interviewing aircrew members at all US Consulate-General in Russia, and quite often this special time remains unused.Amembers of aircraft crews can use these specially allocated time intervals or apply for visas to our embassies and consulates in other countries of the world, "the official representative of the American diplomatic mission, Andrea Kalan, told Interfax .

Aeroflot is the only airline that makes direct flights from Russia to the United States. The American company Delta stopped its flights in September 2017.

The US Embassy in Moscow suspended the issuance of American visas to Russian citizens on August 23. The issue of visas in Moscow was stopped for a week, in three other cities - for an indefinite period.

The embassy explained its decision by the recent actions of the Kremlin, which demanded to cut down 755 Russian diprabotnikov in Russia , including Russian citizens. This decision was a response to the tightening of sanctions against Russia by the US Congress on July 30.

The staff of US missions in Russia, according to the Kremlin's order, should be only 455 people - the same as they work in Russian embassies in the United States.

Priority for the issuance of visas under the new conditions was given to:

officials who travel on business trips to the UN and international organizations whose offices are located in the US and for bilateral meetings;
people who needed an emergency trip on medical issues or for family needs - funerals, hospitalization or participation in legal proceedings.
Separately, the embassy reserved time for interviews with students from American universities.

However, because of the shortage of staff, the processing time for documents has increased dramatically. In Moscow, according to Radio Liberty , the application for a visa is now considered almost three months instead of three to four working days, as it was before the reduction of staff.

The US Embassy recommended that Russians apply for visas to consulates in Warsaw, Kiev, Vilnius and Tbilisi.