Russian Foreign Ministry: Direct flights between Russia and US may cease
Russia and the US may no longer have direct air traffic, due to the difficulties encountered by Aeroflot crews in acquiring American visas, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported.
According to the Ministry, the situation for issuing American visas in Russia is “extremely frustrating”.
“The official waiting time for a visa interview, which Washington increased to 85 days in August 2017, has recently increased to 250 days, which is eight months. In other words, it is becoming pointless to apply for visas,” the department emphasized.
“It is even possible that our countries will have no air traffic. Aeroflot, the only carrier to make regular flights between Russia and the US, may be forced to stop them, since the crews are having increasing difficulties acquiring American visas,” the ministry noted.
Earlier the US government introduced new sanctions against Russia, targeting a number of companies and businessmen.
Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov called the US’s actions “economic raiding”.
Some time later it came out that Russia is planning to pass a bill of response measures against the US. The measures will affect a number of key sectors, goods, American physical and legal entities, and their political allies.