Ordinary Citizens Pay Price of Russia-U.S. Diplomatic Rift

The United States has reportedly drastically reduced visa services in Russia after its consulate in St. Petersburg was ordered to close after a deterioration in bilateral relations following the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain, VOA news reports.

Moscow ordered the closure of the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg and the expulsion of 60 U.S. diplomats last Thursday as ties worsened over the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump closed Russia’s consulate in Seattle and expelled 60 Russian diplomats from the country.

The tit-for-tat moves, which were intended to punish officials and diplomats, are already impacting ordinary citizens of both countries.

The fallout is most severe for Russian citizens and travel-minded Americans in the U.S. Northwest, who would normally seek visas, passport renewals and other documents at the Russian consulate in Seattle, which shut down Friday.

With Russia’s San Francisco consulate having already been closed in September, that leaves residents of the Seattle area with a minimum four-and-a-half-hour flight to the nearest functioning Russian consulate in Houston, Texas, some 3,000 kilometers (1,860) miles) away.

Gayane Yaffa, head of Russian visa services in Seattle, said her phone rang non-stop all week after the March 26 White House announcement.

“People started calling at 7 a.m. asking what to do now,” said Yaffa. “Many had already planned their trips and purchased tickets. People kept asking what to do. It was impossible to reach the consulate in Seattle, and those who succeeded were told there was no point in coming because the employees only gave out the ready passports with visas in them.”

Russia responded later last week by ordering the United States to close its consulate in St. Petersburg, the second busiest one in the country. But the impact of that closing will be less severe since the U.S. consulate in Moscow — less than 700 kilometers (435 miles) to the southeast — will continue to operate, although at a drastically reduced pace.

Russian national Yuri Dukhovny, a Los Angeles resident, says he believes the exchange of closings is going to have a disproportionate impact on Russians.

“All conflicts between states first affect average citizens,” he said. “Many Russians need to renew passports and deal with paperwork. Not having any Russian consulates on the West Coast affects them greatly. Everything will now take forever.”

Scriptwriter Jeremy Iverson, an American who says he moved to Russia a year ago to seek adventure, echoed that view, saying it is average Russians who ultimately will pay the price for the diplomatic gamesmanship.

“The closure of the (St. Petersburg) consulate isn’t actually going to impact American citizens they’ll still have to go through the ILS system to mail in your documents needed for obtaining a visa,” he said. “It will impact Russian citizens who need consular services, those who are here and are trying to get passports changed, to get documentation things like that. It’s going to be an issue for them.”