Three Italian deputies are having their passports withheld by the Russian Embassy in Rome as the latter claims that their visa applications are still being processed.
The trio was scheduled to attend Alexei Navalny’s funeral in Moscow on March 1, a critic of Putin’s regime who died in a high-security prison in Siberia, but has been unable to do so due to the unusual delay. Visa issuance for diplomatic purposes can often be done through an e-mail or phone call and be resolved in a matter of hours, SchengenVisaInfo reports.
Moreover, Benedetto Della Vedova from +Europa, Lia Quartapelle of the Democratic Party and Ivan Scarlarotto of Italia Viva, who applied for a diplomatic visa two weeks ago, February 28, have not yet received their passports from the Russian Embassy.
The three deputies are known as supporters of Ukrainians and critics of Putin’s regime.
My passport, together with that of Lia Quartapelle and Ivan Scalfarotto, has been held for a week at the Russian Consulate in Rome following our request for a visa to attend Navalny’s funeral. We didn’t get a visa, we didn’t receive any explanations from the Embassy, and we still don’t know why or for how long our documents will be held at the Russian consulate.
Russian Visas Strangely Difficult to Obtain
The three deputies made their request on February 28 through a private agency for consular visas. Around the same time, it had not yet been known whether Navalny’s funeral would be open for public visitation.
The consular service agency was ordered to request the visa on Tuesday, February 27, once the exact date and place of the ceremony, which would be held on Friday, March 1, was made public.
The Russian embassy did not disclose any information during this period, which led to an employee of the private agency personally going to the visa-issuing office. He was told that the request was still being processed without offering more explanation.
I would not like this anomalous delay in evaluating our request and this total absence of news on the issuing of the visa to be in any way linked to the fact that we announced that we wanted to go to Moscow, in any case, to pay homage to Navalny by placing a bouquet of flowers on his grave.
Scarlarotto also said for The Post that if they are declared persona non grata, they should be informed. His colleagues, Quartapelle and Della Vedova, said they are still waiting on an answer to their requests, be it denial or granting of the visa, as they still do not know why or for how long their documents will not be given back to the Russian embassy.
During the same time, Italian actress Ornella Muti and street artist Jorit are present in Russia, representing Italy at the Sochi Youth Forum. The three deputies say they still intend to go to Russia to pay homage to Navalny, who gathered thousands of Muscovites on Friday to pay tribute to the opposition’s charismatic leader.
