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Russia Summons US Diplomat in Moscow in Protest Over Visa Row

Reuters

   MOSCOW - Russia summoned a representative of the U.S. embassy in Moscow
   on Thursday to issue a protest after U.S. officials alleged Russia had
   refused visas to teachers at an international school in Moscow, the
   Russian foreign ministry said.

   The ministry said in a statement it had not denied the visas, but that
   teachers at the school were entering Russia under diplomatic visas,
   despite not being diplomats.

   It said Russia was ready to issue visas promptly to U.S. diplomatic
   personnel as soon as Washington started issuing visas promptly to
   Russian diplomats in the United States.

   The United States and Russia accused each other a day earlier of using
   children as political hostages after dozens of teachers at the
   English-language school in Moscow patronized by the children of Western
   diplomats were left without visas.

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