Kremlin pool reporters have been issued U.S. visas to accompany President Vladimir Putin to his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska this week, state media reported on Wednesday.
Channel One said Russian journalists received their visas at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow on Tuesday, the first time in years they have been approved.
Nearly all reporters were granted single-entry journalist visas, according to the state news agency TASS, though some passports have yet to be returned. The visas are valid until Nov. 11.
Channel One said it is the first time Kremlin pool reporters have been granted U.S. visas since 2021, when the embassy was forced to dramatically cut consular staff after a Russian law imposed limits on how many local employees can work at foreign diplomatic missions.
Russian journalists traveling with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for UN meetings in New York in September 2023 and July 2024 faced travel restrictions, according to TASS.
In April 2023, Lavrov criticized the U.S. for denying visas to reporters ahead of a UN Security Council meeting.
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