Visa problems – Moscow threatens Austria with further consequences

The Austrian ambassador to Moscow, Werner Almhofer, was told that the problems that had arisen contradicted Austria’s obligations as a venue for holding international meetings. No further details about the trouble or Russian retaliation were given in a letter justifying the expulsion of the four Austrians.

Moscow: “Only two of the eleven requested visas were issued”
As early as February 1, top Russian diplomat Konstantin Gavrilov complained about difficulties at an OSCE meeting. “Out of 11 visas applied for, only two were issued, two diplomats received rejections, the rest are awaiting a response,” he said, according to a statement held by the APA. It remained unclear whether the “problems that had arisen” also affected members of the Russian parliamentary delegation planning to attend a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna next week.

The Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured APA that Austria would fulfill its obligations under international law under the Headquarters Agreement with the OSCE and would allow the participants of all delegations to participate in the conference in a timely manner. However, the spokeswoman did not answer whether the visas had already been issued: “It does not matter whether the visas have been issued at this time or not. They will only be valid the day before the start of the winter conference – as is known it starts on February 23,” she explained on Thursday evening.