On the issue of visa approval and the number of diplomat visas, the United States has not less challenged Russia. After stressing that the embassy in Russia will no longer approve visas, the US State Department threatened the Russian government with "stopping embassy operations" and demanded that the number of US diplomatic visas be increased. And that's not all, the two countries are fighting outside of diplomacy, and the United States is now "deterring" Russia militarily, in the black seas.
Russian media reported on the 1st that for the provocative action of the United States to undermine regional stability and send warships to the Black Sea, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov responded during the European summit. Lavrov said in an interview on the same day that no matter what the situation, Russia has prepared various preparatory measures to defend the Black Sea, "this is Russia's reply." ”
"As you can see, for any threat, we have a prepared plan to deal with it. We believe that there is no problem or pressure to guarantee the territorial integrity of Russia, as well as the security of the Black Sea. But our principle is to strengthen cooperation between the parties, not to confront them, and that is our attitude. Lavrov said that only cooperation can maintain stability.
Lavrov responded to the "threat" because the U.S. Department of Defense sent a destroyer into the Black Sea before the European climate summit, and the U.S. warship was also equipped with cruise missiles. The Russian Defense Ministry said it had noted the arrival of the US warships and deployed relevant forces and weapons to track them down to ensure that Russia would not be threatened.
In the interview, Lavrov not only responded to the "threat" of the United States, but also pointed out that NATO's actions have undermined the interests of the countries bordering the Black Sea. "NATO's intention to establish new military bases off the coast of Bulgaria or Romania will not only undermine the friendly relations between our countries bordering the Black Sea, but also provoke an appropriate russian counterattack," he said. ”
According to the report, NATO's friction with Russia has been increasing in recent times. NATO recently expelled the diplomats of the Russian representative office in NATO on "spurious" grounds, and at the same time announced that it would reduce the size of the representative office. In response to NATO, Russia adopted a "simply do not establish relations" attitude, announcing that it would close both sides' representations on each other's borders.
"We have explained the malice transmitted by NATO, for which we have decided to close, the other side's representative office in our territory, as well as the press liaison office, at the same time, we are also going to close our own representative office in NATO. If the other party has urgent information to pass on, it can be communicated through our embassies in other countries. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the "direct communication channel" with NATO has been closed, and those who want to communicate can pass through other Russian embassies.
After Russia's strong "severance of diplomatic relations", NATO symbolically put forward the statement that "as long as Russia is willing, NATO can also carry out dialogue". But it is conceivable that even if it is a dialogue, it is a meaningless dialogue, because NATO has decided on a tough stance on Russia. This proves it in another matter.
After NATO proposed a "symbolic dialogue", Russia responded that at this point, there is no point in talking about dialogue. Shortly thereafter, the European Union took advantage of the Navarine incident to condemn Russia for human rights violations and attempts to interfere in Russia's internal affairs, while NATO, while the diplomatic crisis with Russia was not eased, once again expressed solidarity with the EU's decision, calling on Russia to "release people immediately."
While Russia is dealing with troubles with NATO, the United States is constantly creating new points of conflict with Russia. The U.S. State Department said it had canceled the "visa approval" business of the embassy in Russia, and Russians who wanted to obtain a U.S. visa could only go to Poland to submit an application.
Shortly thereafter, the U.S. State Department also said that because of Russia's "employee ban," the U.S. embassy has become unable to function, and if Russia does not raise the number of visas, the United States will stop most of its business.