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AMBASSADOR USHAKOV: U.S. VISA POLICY UNDERMINES DIALOGUE WITH RUSSIA

MOSCOW, August 20, 2003. (RIA Novosti). - The United States' visa policy vis-a-vis Russian nationals undermines its dialogue with Russia, Ambassador Yuri Ushakov remarks in a Washington Post interview.

US precautions after the 11/9 terror attacks are understandable, but why should Russian students attending American colleges be regarded as a threat to the country's homeland security, the diplomat wonders.

As an example of the unfair US visa policy, Ushakov cites the story about a group of talented Russian teenagers invited by Congress to come to the States for a visit. The US Embassy in Moscow denied them visas at last minute notice and revised the decision only when senior government officials stepped in, he recalls.

Hundreds of Russian students who planned a trip to the United States for work or tourism this summer are still waiting for their visas to be issued, Ushakov laments. According to him, one in every three Russian student applicants has been denied US visa this year. Several Russian government officials failed to attend a recent summit in Washington D.C. because they could not get their visas in time. Experts and members of the Russian Academy of Sciences are faced with the same problem, and have already skipped several scheduled events in the U.S. as a result of the visa policies.

Moscow finds it even more disturbing that the Embassy increasingly often prevents Russian nationals from reuniting with their US-based families or from visiting sick relatives in the States.

The current US visa regulations, which went into force August 1, may exacerbate the situation further, forcing Russia to reply in kind, the Ambassador warned. "I hope we won't have to take retaliatory steps," he said.

As an alternative to tougher visa regulations, the Russian special services say they could provide the Americans with information on suspicious individuals seeking entry into the United States. Sharing of intelligence on terror cells and organized crime, creation of joint databases on illegal immigrants, and close cooperation between law-enforcement agencies of the two countries would deter potential terrorists much more effectively, Ushakov argues.

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