Foreign diplomats cannot receive QR codes in Russia

Foreign diplomats in the Russian Federation complain about the inability to obtain QR codes allowing them to visit public places during the lockdown period, which has been introduced since the end of October in a number of cities due to the spread of the coronavirus.

The issue of issuing QR codes to diplomats was raised before the Russian Foreign Ministry back in the summer, when Moscow introduced access to restaurants and cafes using such codes, as well as to mass events of 500 or more people. How reported RBC three sources in foreign diplomatic missions, the embassies of Western countries have sent a collective letter to the Russian Foreign Ministry with a request to assist in issuing QR codes to diplomats vaccinated with drugs not approved in the country. However, due to the fact that the system was canceled less than a month after its introduction, this issue then lost its relevance and, as a result, remained unresolved.

In some embassies there are diplomats who have decided to be re-vaccinated with the Russian vaccine in order to receive a QR code.

Some of the embassies with Russian citizenship, who were also vaccinated with foreign drugs, also faced the problem of obtaining QR codes.

The Russian side invariably strives to provide the most favorable conditions for the work of diplomatic missions in the country, taking into account the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, the Russian Foreign Ministry assured. The Ministry, together with the Moscow government, is implementing a long-term vaccination program for the diplomatic corps with Sputnik V and Sputnik Light drugs. All participants in this campaign receive vaccination certificates and can further issue a QR code, the Foreign Ministry stressed.

The department added that employees of Russian diplomatic missions abroad who are vaccinated with domestic drugs also face similar restrictions. According to the Foreign Ministry, the authorities of several countries for the period of quarantine restricted the movement of people without certificates confirming vaccination with approved drugs, which do not include Russian vaccines.

“De facto, this can be interpreted as discrimination against our diplomats and members of their families, who were vaccinated with Russian antioxidants. At present, they are limited in their official activities and daily life due to the impossibility of obtaining “sanitary passes”, – emphasized in the Russian Foreign Ministry.

For example, in France in August, the so-called sanitary passports in the form of a QR code were introduced, without which it is impossible even to use public transport. Such a passport can be issued to those who are vaccinated with vaccines approved in France, have had a coronavirus or received a negative test result. Because of this, Russian diplomats in the country are forced to undergo frequent testing. At the same time, there is no such problem in the United States, since the Russian diplomatic corps was vaccinated with local drugs. However, upon returning to their homeland, such diplomats will have to be revaccinated with the Russian vaccine to receive QR codes, without which it is impossible to visit restaurants and other public places.