On Thursday, Russia declared its decision to expel two US diplomats, alleging that they had collaborated with a Russian individual accused of engaging in cooperation with a foreign nation.
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement, indicating that it had summoned US envoy Lynne Tracy and informed her of the requirement for embassy First Secretary Jeffrey Sillin and Second Secretary David Bernstein to depart Russia within a seven-day period.
The US embassy confirmed the expulsions, while there was no immediate response from the State Department in Washington.
According to the Russian statement, "The named individuals engaged in illicit activities, establishing contact with Russian citizen R. Shonov, who stands accused of 'covert cooperation' with a foreign nation."
Robert Shonov had been employed by the US Consulate General in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok for over 25 years until Russia issued an order in 2021 for the dismissal of local staff members working for the US mission.
In August, Russia's FSB security service released a video in which Shonov purportedly confessed that Sillin and Bernstein had instructed him to collect information regarding Russia's activities in Ukraine, the annexation of "new territories," its military mobilization, and the 2024 presidential election. In the video, Shonov stated that he was instructed to gather "negative" information on these subjects and to search for indications of public protest, incorporating these elements into his reports.
The United States accused Moscow of attempting to intimidate and harass US personnel after Russian state media reported the allegations against Shonov and suggested that the FSB intended to interrogate embassy personnel who had been in contact with him. When Shonov was arrested in May, the State Department asserted that the case highlighted Russia's "blatant use of increasingly repressive laws" against its citizens, emphasizing that the allegations against Shonov were "wholly without merit."
The Russian Foreign Ministry, in its statement, contended that Shonov had received payment for carrying out tasks aimed at harming Russia's national security. It also underscored that the illegal activities of the US diplomatic mission, which included interfering in the internal affairs of the host country, were unacceptable and would be firmly repressed.
The statement concluded by expressing the Russian side's anticipation for Washington to draw appropriate conclusions and refrain from taking confrontational measures.
Russia-US relations have plummeted to their lowest point in over six decades due to the conflict in Ukraine. The United States is supplying advanced weaponry to Ukraine and has imposed sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion in February 2022.
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