Russia denies visas to teachers at Anglo-American school in Moscow

Bloomberg

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has denied visas for 30 new teachers at a Moscow school run by the US, British and Canadian embassies, in the latest sign of continuing diplomatic tensions with the west.
The ministry informed the US Embassy that it will not process visas for the teachers at the Anglo-American School of Moscow in a move that may force the school to disenroll new and returning students, according to a statement from US Ambassador Jon Huntsman.
The Russian Foreign Ministry accused the US of misrepresenting the situation, saying it denied only teachers who had applied for visas as embassy employees with diplomatic passports.
“The Russian government has made the unfortunate decision not to issue visas to the incoming teachers who are expected to arrive next month to start the school year,” Huntsman said. “Children should not be used as pawns in diplomatic disputes.”
The Foreign Ministry called the US statement “a blatant lie,” saying that Moscow had sought to normalise the legal and visa status of the school and its staff. “Despite the fact that the school is a commercial entity, teachers come to Moscow with the same passports as Ambassador Huntsman,” the ministry said.

Diplomatic Spats
The Anglo-American School in the past has found itself in the cross-hairs of political spats between Washington and Moscow, with its St Petersburg campus forced to close after a round of diplomatic expulsions last year in the wake of the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal in the UK.
Director Rhonda Norris did not respond to an emailed request for comment, while the school referred all questions to the embassy.
During the waning days of the Obama administration, CNN
reported that the Kremlin planned to order the school closed after a new round of sanctions were imposed on Russia for its alleged interference in the US elections.