Czech Foreign Ministry to increase personnel at Moscow consulate

The Czech Foreign Ministry has announced plans to increase personnel at the Czech consulate in Moscow in order to meet a sudden increase in the number of Russians applying for Czech visas. The decision has come on the heels of complaints by several Russian travel agencies that contend they had to cancel several group vacations because visas had not been issued on time. Foreign Ministry spokesman Vit Kolar has said that the problem resulted in part thanks to new European Union regulations affecting the Czech Republic as of May 1st.