Russia ‘outraged’ by US visa restrictions on top parliamentarian

Moscow has sharply criticized the US for issuing a highly restrictive visa to a senior Russian parliamentarian who was due to attend events at the UN headquarters in New York, adding that the “unacceptable” restrictions violate international norms.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a Wednesday statement that Moscow is “outraged” by Washington’s decision to impose visa restrictions on Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of the Russian Federation Council (upper house of parliament), who was to head a delegation at a conference organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in New York.

“The visa contains a number of unacceptable restrictions on Valentina Matviyenko’s stay in the United States,” the ministry said, adding that the move has “disrupted” the Russian delegation’s trip, which was slated for late August.

Washington’s move has also drawn an angry reaction from Russian parliamentarians.

Andrey Klimov, the deputy head of the Federation Council Committee for International Affairs, said there is no sense for the Russian delegation to travel to the US without its head, Matviyenko.

Igor Morozov, a member of the same committee, also slammed the US State Department’s decision and said, “A normal and adequate reply will be to expand the sanctions list for the US State Department officials who are linked to” the imposition of such restrictions.

Meanwhile, Matviyenko said an IPU debate was supposed to criticize the United States over international security issues.

She described US bans against Russian parliamentarians as “political persecution,” saying such sanctions “do seem savage and medieval. This is a harassment of parliamentarians for their political views.”

In a similar reaction, Chairman of the International Affairs Committee at the Russian State Duma Alexei Pushkov said the new bans prove that Washington is still holding on to the confrontational approach in dealing with Moscow.

“The issue of a discriminative visa to a senior official of the Russian state cannot be interpreted other than a confirmation of Washington’s course towards confrontation with Russia. Any other interpretation is simply impossible,” Pushkov said.

The new anti-Russia measures come amid deepening tensions between Moscow and Washington over the crisis in Ukraine.

The US and its allies accuse Moscow of sending troops into eastern Ukraine in support of the pro-Russia forces. Moscow has long denied any involvement in Ukraine’s conflict.

The United States and the European Union have imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia. Moscow has also adopted a series of counter-measures in response to Western sanctions.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk