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Russian Ambassador backs parents of the bride in U.S. visa case

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Russia's Ambassador to the United States has asked the U.S. State Department to review a decision to refuse visas to the parents of a Russian woman marrying a U.S. citizen.

WASHINGTON, May 31 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Ambassador to the United States has asked the U.S. State Department to review a decision to refuse visas to the parents of a Russian woman marrying a U.S. citizen.

Viktor Rybushkin, 60, and his wife, Lyudmila, 59, from the southern Russian city of Volgograd, were last month refused U.S. tourist visas to attend the wedding of their daughter, Tatiana Logisheva, a world-class ballroom dancer who has been granted permanent residence in the U.S., to American Paul Keegan.

Ambassador Yury Ushakov wrote a letter to the State Department requesting that the decision be reversed and the Rybushkins be given visas, the Russian Embassy's press office said Monday.

The visa denial has caused a stir in the U.S. media, and Senator Hillary Clinton, wife of former U.S. president Bill Clinton, took up the case in May by sending an inquiry to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

In her letter, Clinton said the wedding of Logisheva and Keegan was scheduled for June 17 in New York, but that the bride's parents were denied the entry visa on April 24 after an interview with U.S. Embassy officials.

She also said the Rybushkins had no intention to stay in the U.S., and that they have an apartment, a country house and a car in Russia.

But a consulate official responded that the couple "appeared to have close family ties to the U.S. and weak economic ties to Russia, calling into question whether they would return to Russia," the New York Daily News reported.

"Applicants for nonimmigrant visas are presumed to be intending immigrants," said Michael Flores, deputy consul of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, wrote.

The parents of the Russian bride, who also have a 30-year-old son living and working in the United States, are reported to be devastated by the refusal.

"We love our children, but how can we get to visit them?" said Lyudmila Rybushkin in a recent telephone conversation with the New York paper.

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