Romania’s foreign ministry has hit back at claims it denied visas to Russia officials attending a telecommunications conference in Bucharest, saying it issued 17 visas to Russian officials
It called the accusations “absurd” and „unfounded.”
The ministry however said it had revoked 14 visas for journalists who pretended to be government officials on “national security” grounds.
It said the journalists were working for the state outlet Russia Today but they applied for visas posing „as officials from the ministry of digital development, communications and mass-media,” a statement said.
„It is obvious that … the participation and the interests of representation of the Russian Federation at the ITU Conference in Bucharest has not been affected.”
It said that accusations that Romania was trying to stop a a Russian official being elected as director of the ITU were “absurd and manifestly unfounded.”
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Friday accused the Romanian government of deliberately denying Russian officials visas who were scheduled to attend a the conference in Bucharest on orders from Washington.
She said the reason was to stop a Russian candidate being voted director of the ITU Development Bureau.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) conference is being held in Bucharest, on September 26th – October 14th.
