Russia will respond, including in kind, if Washington hampers the operation of Russian consulates general in the US, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.
"We want American citizens’ trips to Russia to be carried out with minimal obstacles. In this case, the US politics will not be a reason for responding in kind. This would be counter-productive," the diplomat said.
"First, we are ruled by the knowledge of what is beneficial to us and what we need and, second, [the desire] not to destroy anything proactively in relations with Russia or the possibility to develop contacts between people or in the sphere of economic relations development," he stressed. "So in visa sphere, despite the American far-reaching decisions, there will be no equal responses from our side, that’s for sure," Ryabkov added.
"If Americans strive to complicate the operation of our embassies and consulates in the US, then the issue of retaliatory measures, including responding kind, will become especially important," TASS cited the diplomat as saying.
