Aug. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. visa services in Russia will be suspended on Wednesday, the U.S. Mission Russia said on Monday, after Russia ordered U.S. consulates and embassy to cut staff.
"As a result of the Russian government's personnel cap imposed on the U.S. Mission, all nonimmigrant visa (NIV) operations across Russia will be suspended beginning August 23," a statement by the mission, a division of the State Department, said. It added that "visa operations will resume on a greatly reduced scale" on Sept. 1, and available only at its Moscow embassies; matters regarding visas "will be suspended until further notice" at U.S. consulates in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok.