The Russian Foreign Ministry has expelled two U.S. diplomats from the U.S. embassy in Moscow, accusing them of collaborating with a Russian national to collect intelligence on the war in Ukraine. (File Photo by Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA-EFE)
Sept. 14 (UPI) — The Russian government has taken the step of expelling two U.S. diplomats, claiming their involvement in “illegal activity” against the Russian Federation with assistance from a Russian individual.
On Thursday, the Russian government declared the U.S. embassy’s First Secretary, Jeffrey Sillin, and Second Secretary, David Berstein, as “persona non grata.”
“The U.S. Ambassador was informed that J. Sillin and D. Bernstein must depart from Russia within 7 days in the capacity of ‘persona non grata’,” stated the Russian Foreign Ministry in a press release on Thursday.
The Foreign Ministry accused the two U.S. diplomats of colluding with a Russian citizen to obtain information about the conflict in Ukraine.
In August, the Russian Federal Security Service revealed that Robert Shonov, a long-time Russian employee at the U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok, had been charged with providing information to American diplomats at the U.S. embassy.
“These individuals engaged in unlawful activities, establishing contacts with Russian citizen R. Shonov, accused of ‘covert cooperation’ with a foreign nation, who was assigned tasks aimed at jeopardizing the national security of the Russian Federation in exchange for compensation,” stated the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday.
Upon the announcement of the charges against Shonov in August, U.S. officials vehemently denied the allegations.
“Russia’s targeting of Mr. Shonov under the ‘covert cooperation’ statute only underscores the increasingly oppressive actions being taken by the Russian government against its own citizens,” said U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller in a statement in August.
The State Department referred to the charges against Shonov as intimidation tactics.
“We strongly protest the Russian security services’ attempts — supported by Russia’s state-controlled media — to intimidate and harass our personnel. Russia is obligated under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations to treat diplomats with respect and take appropriate measures to prevent any attack on their person, freedom, or dignity, and we expect them to fulfill that obligation,” Miller added.
In February 2022, less than a week after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. government expelled 12 diplomats from Russia’s mission to the United Nations, accusing them of engaging in “espionage activities.”
“The U.S. has informed the Russian Mission that we are initiating the process of expelling 12 intelligence operatives from the Russian Mission who have misused their residency privileges in the U.S. by participating in espionage activities that pose a threat to our national security,” stated Olivia Dalton, spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the U.N., in a social media post.
