Washington – The State Department sent several high-level complaints to Moscow last week regarding long-term and increasing intimidation of American diplomats in Russia.
According to State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau, the harassment of U.S. diplomats by Russian security agents and traffic police has been an issue over the past two years. The increase in incidents may correspond to the imposition of Western sanctions against Russia over the crisis in Ukraine.
“Harassment of U.S. diplomats by host government services is a longstanding problem,” said Trudeau at a press briefing. “We see an increase and we take it seriously.”
Other Western embassies have reported similar accusations against their diplomats stationed in Moscow, Trudeau added.
Meanwhile, Moscow says it’s Washington that needs to reevaluate.
Last week the Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said that Moscow has also “felt a significant increase in pressure on the Russian Embassy and consulates general of our country in the United States.”
According to Zakharova, staff members of Russia’s consulate missions abroad “regularly become the objects of provocations by the American secret services, face obstacles in making official contacts and other restrictions.
Prior to this set of complaints, Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian President Vladimir Putin last discussed the issue on March 24.
Although Trudeau did not say why Kerry brought up the matter with Putin, the March meet-up did come after the U.S. stripped five of the six Russian honorary consuls (U.S. citizens or green card holders who perform services outside Washington on behalf of a foreign government) of credentials to respond to the harassment of diplomats in Moscow.
In turn, Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. of provoking Russian diplomats. Trudeau couldn’t rule out Russian harassment of U.S. diplomats in other countries but did say that she didn’t have any specifics of such cases occurring.
In fact, she would not discuss specific incidents at all, including those reported by the Washington Post earlier in the week stating that home break-ins of embassy personnel had taken place.
Ultimately, Trudeau dismissed Zakharova’s claims as “without foundation” and said American diplomats are faced with the same, reciprocal restrictions as Russian diplomats.
