Islam Times - Russian diplomats harassed by US, not other way around: Moscow

Islam Times - Russia has dismissed the Washington's claims that its diplomats have been harassed by Russian security agents, saying it’s the Russian diplomats who are being pressured by the US.

Maria Zakharova, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, made the remarks on Tuesday a day after the US State department said that Washington had complained bitterly to Moscow over the issue which was referred to as “a longstanding problem”.

Washington is “constantly coming up with new restrictions against our diplomats, who constantly face provocations from the FBI and the CIA,” Zakharova said.

The Russian official said that “unacceptable measures” are being applied against them, including “psychological pressure in the presence of their families.”

“There even had been cases when such actions were carried out in the presence of pregnant wives of our diplomats,” she added.

‘Instead of receiving our signal, identifying the problem and creating conditions to improve our relations, they (the US) flip everything upside down” by releasing the publication, she added.

On Monday, the US daily Washington Post published an article, entitled, “Russia is harassing US diplomats all over Europe.”

It said that US ambassadors to several European countries had recently complained that Russian intelligence officials were constantly perpetrating acts of harassment against their diplomatic staff that ranged from the weird to the downright scary.

“This publication is shallow, this publication does not reflect the real picture, it was prepared hastily, it was prepared by hearsay,” Zakharova said.

However, she said that despite the pressure Moscow is ready to work with Washington to improve relations.

“Our counterparts should make up their mind as to what is it they want in reality: to develop relations, or at least, not to make them worse, or cook [up] more such publications,” she said.

State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters at a press briefing on Monday that the issue of harassment has become so pressing that it has been raised directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The problems began two years ago following US-imposed sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, she added.

Tensions between Russia and the West peaked after Crimea declared independence from Ukraine on March 17, 2014 and formally applied to become part of Russia following a referendum a day earlier.

The United States and its European allies accuse Moscow of destabilizing Ukraine. Moscow, however, rejects having a hand in the crisis gripping the Eastern European state.