US Visa Policy Amounts to "Cultural Fascism"

Over the past 1.5 years more than 60 thousand Russians have fallen foul of stricter rules on receiving a US visa. This was announced at a press conference yesterday by Vladimir Didenko, a board member of the Russian-American Public Visa Council. Didenko said that US consulates in Russia are carrying out 'a policy of cultural fascism and running a consular war against the Russian Federation.' A particularly hard blow has been dealt to Russian scientists, students and businessmen who have studied and worked in the US, Didenko believes. The psychological and material loss from this runs into millions of dollars, according to Didenko.

In the light of the situation that has developed, the Visa Council has set up a programme called 'Russians are leaving America.' The programme's aim is to help Russian scientists, students and businessmen obtain US visas so that they can tie up loose ends in America and bring their possessions to Russia, Didenko said.