UK suspends visa service in Uzbekistan

Agence France Presse November 24 Britain has suspended issuing visas in Uzbekistan after local authorities cut security around the embassy in the capital Tashkent, an embassy spokesman said Wednesday. "On the decision of the (city administration) the concrete blocks and iron fences in front of the embassy building that provided the protection were removed," Leonid Kudryavtsev told AFP. "The embassy decided to suspend visa issuing temporarily as the level of protection of visitors and the embassy itself is reduced." Kudryavtsev said the city authorities had explained the changes were due to street works. Applicants for British visas have been advised to address UK visa-issuing posts in Almaty, Kazakhstan and in Moscow, Russia. The Tashkent embassy said the temporary closing of the visa section was not related to the general situation in the Central Asian country. Last month the British Broadcasting Corporation temporarily shut its Tashkent office, citing security concerns after BBC staff who covered an uprising in the city of Andijan this May were harassed and intimidated.