Moscow: The United States issued Russian Fed Cup captain Shamil Tarpishchev a visa on Thursday, just two days before the start of the semi-final in the women’s team tennis competition, the US embassy in Moscow said.

Tarpishchev had complained about an alleged delay in issuing the visa, and the Russian government weighed in on Wednesday with a sharply worded statement blasting “bureaucratic procrastination.”

The visa was issued before dawn on Thursday, a US embassy spokeswoman said — an unusual occurrence. She said the embassy had been aware of Tarpishchev’s need to travel to Vermont and wanted to accommodate him quickly.

According to Russian news agencies, Tarpishchev expressed gratitude to the embassy for “leaving an employee (at work) overnight” to issue the visa.

The draw for the best-of-five series is scheduled for Friday, with the matches to be played on Saturday and Sunday.

On Tuesday, Tarpishchev accused the United States of deliberately trying to disrupt the Russians’ training and said coaching plans had essentially been ruined.