Translated material
Once is enough
Russian officials will not receive British multiple-entry visas
Yesterday, the UK confirmed that Russian officials would be issued visas under new, stricter rules. “We explained these changes directly to the Russian authorities and do not intend to publicly discuss the details of these measures,” Anjum Noorani, head of the press and public relations department of the British Embassy in Moscow, told RIA Novosti. Let us recall that last week British Foreign Minister David Miliband promised to tighten the visa regime for Russian officials and suspend negotiations on easing the visa regime with Russia in response to Moscow’s refusal to extradite to Great Britain businessman Andrei Lugovoi, accused of the murder of ex-FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko in the fall of 2006 year.The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed to Vremya Novostey that they recently received clarifications from the British Embassy in Moscow on consular and visa issues. “Nothing fundamentally new has happened: the rules introduced back in April 2007 continue to apply,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin emphasized in a conversation with a Vremya Novostei correspondent. Visa applications from Russian officials are submitted with a detailed indication of the purpose of the trip exclusively through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The period for their consideration by the British consular service is ten working days. The changes, according to Vremya Novostei, affected only the validity period of visas. Previously, the embassy automatically issued multiple-entry visas for six months, but now their period will be limited to the official stay program.
The “principle of mirroring” has been adopted in diplomatic practice, including in the consular sphere. In this regard, Mr. Kamynin clarified that the British side was informed that “as part of further contacts between government agencies of our countries, the Russian side applies similar rules when considering visa applications from official representatives of the United Kingdom.” Last week, after Minister Miliband's speech, the Russian Foreign Office warned that "Russian officials will not request a British visa, and similar requests from the British government will not be considered" until clarification is received from the Foreign Office.
These disputes did not affect ordinary citizens. “We are talking about official trips of representatives of Russian government agencies. This mainly concerns service and diplomatic passports,” explained Mr. Kamynin. But there will still be more hassle with visas, although the innovations will affect not only Russia. Yesterday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that from March 2008 the United Kingdom will move to issuing a new type of visa containing biometric data.