26 Dec, 2024 13:30

Number of Russian visas issued to Americans rises

The director of the Foreign Ministry’s consular department has said that Moscow hasn’t imposed visa restrictions on most US citizens

More Russian visas have been issued to US citizens this year than in 2023, Aleksey Klimov, the director of the Foreign Ministry’s consular department, has said. Hundreds of thousands of electronic visas have been granted to Chinese, Indian, Turkish and German nationals this year, the diplomat has revealed.

According to the Klimov, the procedure for obtaining a Russian visa has not changed for US citizens since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Restrictions only apply to a select list of individuals who have been barred from entering Russia, he added.

In an interview to RIA Novosti released on Thursday, Klimov said that “in the first 11 months of 2024, a total of 7,737 visas (165 of which were business visas) were issued to US citizens by Russian diplomatic representation offices and consulates.” The official noted that the number was 5,694 for the entirety of last year.

He also pointed out that Moscow did not respond in kind to the European Union scrapping the visa facilitation agreement in 2022 and that it still partly honors it.

Brussels suspended the 2007 EU-Russia visa facilitation accord in September 2022, citing Moscow’s military campaign against Kiev. The move made the visa application process for Russian citizens lengthier, costlier, and subject to greater scrutiny.

Moreover, a number of EU states, such as the Netherlands, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, separately imposed an entry ban for all Russian holders of short-stay Schengen visas.

Commenting on calls made by senior EU officials of late over the need to tighten the visa issuance procedure for Russians, Klimov told the media outlet that Moscow would carefully calibrate its response to any potential further restrictions by Brussels. He emphasized that Russia seeks to avoid harming “ordinary European citizens, many of whom do not support the anti-Russian course pursued by their governments.”

The Russian diplomat also revealed that since the start of this year, more than600,000 electronic visas have been granted, most of which have been given to individuals from China, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Türkiye, India, and Estonia.

Last month, the Russian business daily RBK, citing data from Russia’s Federal Security Service, reported that the country had welcomed seven times as many Chinese visitors from January to September 2024 compared to the same period of last year. According to the media outlet, a million trips to Russia were made by foreign citizens during that period – up 11% over 2023. Of those, 731,800 were undertaken by Chinese nationals.

https://www.rt.com/russia/610005-russian-fm-visas-us-nationals/

Kek I bet this a bummer to the EU and Bidan Admin

EPA approves pilot project to make road out of radioactive material in Florida

BY RACHEL FRAZIN 12/23/24 05:11

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved a pilot project that would allow a company to build a small road made out of a radioactive fertilizer byproduct — drawing environmentalist ire.

The Biden administration’s approval allows Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC to construct a road made of phosphogypsum on its property in New Wales, Fla.

Phosphogypsum contains radium, which decays to form radon gas, both of which are radioactive and can cause cancer, according to the agency.

In the past, the agency has raised concerns about the use of this material in road building.It said in 1992 that use of phosphogypsum in road construction created risks for both construction workers and also anyone who later builds a home where the phosphogypsum road had once been.

The agency now says that members of the public are not expected to come into contact with the road.

However, Mosaic, which will build the road, has described the effort as part of a pilot project that will “demonstrate the range of … road construction designs.” It’s not clear if additional road construction will follow — though doing so would likely require further approvals.

Ragan Whitlock, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a written statement that the EPA’s decision was “mind-boggling.”

“That dramatically increases the potential for harm to our road crews and water quality,” Whitlock said. “The EPA has bowed to political pressure from the phosphate industry and paved the way for this dangerous waste to be used in roads all over the country.”

In 2020, under the Trump administration, the EPA approved the use of phosphogypsum in government road construction.

That approval was withdrawn under the Biden administration, which described it as a broad, generalized request. It’s not clear whether the incoming Trump administration will seek to reinstate it.

Typically, phosphogypsum is held in “stacks” as part of an attempt to limit public exposure, though this approach has also spurred environmental concerns — particularly in states like Florida that are prone to storms.

In approving the road plan, the EPA said that it was “as protective of human health as placement in a stack.”

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5054335-epa-approves-phosphogypsum-road-florida/amp/