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“The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly cited statistics, which are transparent and I have no doubts, that the proportion at the bilateral level is closely observed and using the principle of reciprocity, the upper limit, which is obviously artificially low, is set at random by the American side. ,” said Konstantin Kosachev.
“The reference to the total number of Russians with diplomatic passports on US soil is absolutely absurd and stupid because it also concerns the staff of the mission to the United Nations,” the Russian legislator was quoted as saying. TASS, Wednesday (6/10/2021).
According to Kosachev, if US lawmakers do not like this situation then the only thing left for them to do – given their illiterate scope in foreign policy – is to decide to demand the removal of the UN headquarters from the US.
Earlier, a bipartisan group of American senators requested that Biden immediately launch measures to increase the number of personnel at the US Embassy in Moscow and expel 300 Russian diplomats, if the Russian Federation rejects the increase.
Also read: US Senator Urges Biden to Expel 300 Russian Diplomats
Russia in August banned the US embassy in Moscow from detaining, hiring or contracting Russian or third-country staff, except guards. The policy forced the US diplomatic mission to release 182 employees and dozens of contractors, the State Department said.
“That means there are only about 100 US diplomats in Russia, compared to 400 Russian diplomats in the entire United States,” the senators said.
“This imbalance in diplomatic representation is unacceptable. Therefore, Russia must issue sufficient visas to approximate the equality between the number of American diplomats serving in Russia and the number of Russian diplomats serving in the United States,” the senators wrote in a letter to Biden.
Also read: US Embassy in Moscow Mass Layoffs, 182 Russian Staff Fired
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