Russia expelled two U.S. diplomats it accused of “illegal activities” and contact with a consulate worker Moscow has accused of collecting sensitive information.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry summoned U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy Thursday to declare the two diplomats “persona non grata” for activities incompatible with their diplomatic status.
Russia’s domestic security service, known as the FSB, earlier sought to question the two employees of the U.S. Embassy’s political department, Jeffrey Sillin and David Bernstein, in the case of a former U.S. consulate employee who pleaded guilty to gathering confidential information, the state-run Tass news service reported.
The FSB accused Robert Shonov, who used to work at the consulate in Vladivostok, of carrying out assignments for Sillin and Bernstein, according to Tass.
Even before Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Washington and Moscow carried out several diplomatic expulsions as relations between the two countries deteriorated.
