United States: The United States has accused Russia of attempting to intimidate and harass Washington’s employees. The statement comes after reports that a former US consulate worker was charged with collecting information on the war in Ukraine on behalf of Washington. The charge of “cooperation on a confidential basis with a foreign state” carries a maximum prison sentence of eight years.
Earlier, Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) said that Mr. Robert Shonov, a Russian national, had supplied information to US embassy staff in Moscow. The information was related to how Russia’s conscription for the war in Ukraine was affecting political discontent inside the country ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
“Russia’s targeting of Mr. Shonov under the ‘confidential cooperation’ statute only highlights the increasingly repressive actions the Russian government is taking against its own citizens,” US State Department spokesperson Mr. Matthew Miller said in a statement.
Mr. Miller stated that Mr. Shonov provided services to the US Embassy in Moscow in strict compliance with Russia’s laws and regulations. “We strongly protest the Russian security services’ attempts, furthered by Russia’s state-controlled media, to intimidate and harass our employees,” the spokesperson noted in the statement, adding that Washington was aware the FSB had also summoned two diplomats working at the US embassy in Moscow in connection to the case.
Mr. Shonov, who has been under arrest since May, was employed by the US Consulate General in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok for more than 25 years until Russia, in 2021, ordered the termination of the US mission’s local staff.
“Shonov’s sole role at the time of his arrest was to compile press summaries from publicly available Russian media sources,” the State Department commented following his arrest in May 2023.
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