August 12, 2002 - Wall Street Journal: Russia Denies Peace Corps Visas Amid Domestic Political Pressure

Peace Corps Online: Peace Corps News: Headlines: Peace Corps Headlines - 2002: 08 August 2002 Peace Corps Headlines: August 12, 2002 - Wall Street Journal: Russia Denies Peace Corps Visas Amid Domestic Political Pressure

By Admin1 (admin) on Monday, August 12, 2002 - 10:33 am: Edit Post

Russia Denies Peace Corps Visas Amid Domestic Political Pressure





Read and comment on these excerpts from a story in the Wall Street Journal on the U.S. Peace Corps scaling back its operations in Russia after authorities denied visas to almost half its volunteers at:

Russia Denies Peace Corps Visas Amid Domestic Political Pressure *

* This link was active on the date it was posted. PCOL is not responsible for broken links which may have changed.



Russia Denies Peace Corps Visas Amid Domestic Political Pressure

By GUY CHAZAN

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

MOSCOW -- The U.S. Peace Corps is scaling back its operations in Russia after the authorities denied visas to almost half its volunteers.

Peace Corps spokeswoman Ellen Field said the organization was "very disappointed" that 30 of 64 volunteers on two-year assignments weren't allowed back into Russia for their second year of service. She said a new group of 62 volunteers scheduled to arrive in Russia next month will now be redirected to other countries.



Jeff Hay, the Peace Corps' Russian director, said 700 Peace Corps volunteers have worked in Russia since 1992, mainly teaching English and business. He said the organization receives 150 requests a year from all over Russia for its volunteers.



... within Russia , mistrust of foreigners lingers. Mr. Hay said articles have recently appeared in Russia's regional press accusing volunteers of being spies and ridiculing the organization as a scheme for bringing down U.S. unemployment figures. He said some regions, such as Nizhny Novgorod and Udmurtia in central Russia , have recently pulled out of the program.

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman refused to comment on the visa issue. "The authorities are not required to provide any explanation for why a visa has been denied," said Vladimir Godina.

Last year, several foreigners working for nongovernmental organizations, many of whom had been active in Russia for several years, were barred from re-entering the country. Among them were employees of environmental groups like Greenpeace and charities running schools and orphanages for refugees in Chechnya.

The new tougher policy on visas has coincided with a flurry of spy trials targeting academics and businessmen with ties to Westerners.



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This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Peace Corps - Overseas Programs; COS - Russia

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By falcon (217.14.193.109) on Tuesday, June 21, 2005 - 11:32 am: Edit Post

amm... find a site about Izhevsk in Udmurtia
http://izhevsk.udmlink.ru


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