Russian Embassy in London Surprised over Time’s Visa Overhaul Piece

TEHRAN (defapress)- The Russian embassy in London expressed its surprise over the Times’ coverage of London’s decision to review the Tier 1 visa regime, saying targeting a single nation went out of fashion in 1945.

News ID: 69434

Date: 29 March 2018 - 14:27

The Russian embassy in the UK used the Times of London's article on UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd's Wednesday announcement that London will consider reforming the Tier 1 visa for wealthy foreign nationals, Sputnik reported.

Rudd had the courtesy not to mention Russians specifically, meantime, British Prime Minister Theresa May expressly stated that the UK's probe into wealthy foreigners will not be limited only to Russians, the Times went full-on with a headline saying "Wealthy Russians Could Use Visas."

"Targeting all dirty money or just people of a particular nationality?" the Russian Embassy in the UK tweeted Wednesday, with a photo of the Times headline attached. "The former is welcome though long overdue, the latter went out of fashion in 1945."

Tier 1 visa is issued to foreign individuals who want to conduct business in the UK and have at least 50,000 pounds ($70,750) in investment funds.

Some 700 Tier 1 visas were issued to Russian nationals between 2008 and 2015.

"The Tier 1 was already reformed in 2015-2016 and it has been reduced by 84 percent since then," Rudd told a committee of lawmakers Wednesday. "I have asked my officials to look at what reforms we may continue with and to take a look at previous ones over the past few years."

In 1945 the Soviet Union, with the assistance of Allied forces including the UK, defeated Nazi Germany, who systematically persecuted its own citizens based on nationality.