"The consulate department will issue visas to those people who were unable to obtain them in four to ten days, and their validity will be extended to a month," Sergei Shpilko, president of the Russian Travel Industry Union, said after meeting with the consul.
Travel agents in the Russian capital said about 1,500 people, many of whom were intending to leave Russia for the May public holidays, had been unable to obtain their travel documents on time after staff at the embassy went on a one-day strike Thursday over better pay and conditions for locally hired employees.
The embassy's press service said earlier Tuesday that visas were being issued as normal.
"All the employees of the consulate department are working and visas are being issued properly," the press service said.
