Foreign ministry says air travel between Russia, US may be severed

MOSCOW, Apr 20 (PRIME) -- Moscow thinks that the visa blockade that Washington is now establishing against Russians may lead to suspension of air travel between the two states, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement late on Thursday.

Washington has prolonged the official waiting period for a visa interview to 250 days, or eight months, which makes any visa requests unreasonable.

“We cannot even rule out a possibility that our countries would end without air travel. Aeroflot, which is not the only air carrier that has scheduled flights between Russia and the U.S., may have to terminate them as difficulties of flight crews with obtaining U.S. visas are mounting,” the ministry said.

It added that the U.S. has an obligation to issue visas to flight crews in advance under a 1994 air travel accord.

National air carrier Aeroflot confirmed the company’s problems with obtaining U.S. visas for its flight crews.

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