WASHINGTON, June 10. /TASS/. The anti-Russian media campaign unfolded in the US has wielded impact on the lives of members of the Russian community in the US and the Russian diplomats are raising the issue with the US authorities, the Ambassador in Washington, Anatoly Antonov said on Sunday addressing a forum of Russian fellow-countrymen in the US.
"The Russian-US relations have plunged to new lows," he told the 6th forum of Russian compatriots in the US held at the Russian Embassy this year. "An unprecedented campaign aimed at discrediting our country, as well as its role and place in the world goes on in the US media and it cannot but affect the lives of Russian community members here,"
"We’re taking account of the concerns you have expressed and we take them up at meetings with US Administration officials, both in the White House and at the State Department," Antonov said.
He recalled that the steps taken by the US authorities had led to a halving of the number of Russian Consulates General. "First they closed the Consulate in San Francisco and this year, the Consulate in Seattle," Antonov said adding that the Consulates played the role of an efficient link between Russia and the Russian-speaking community in America.
Only two consulates - in New York and Houston - continue functioning at present.
"Naturally, the load on these two legations has grown but I feel confident we’ll cope with it anyway," Antonov said, stressing the embassy’s praise for the willingness of the fellow-Russians "to stand side by side with their historic homeland and to assist its development."
He promised the Embassy’s full assistance to the efforts of Russian community associations and support in the defense of the legitimate interests of descendants from Russia.
Alexei Roskoshny, a senior advisor on communications with fellow-countrymen outside of Russia read out an address by Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin, who said the American community was one of the biggest and most active Russian compatriot communities in the Russian world nowadays.
Karasin called for unity, consolidation, solidarity, and mutual assistance among the fellow-Russians living in the US.
"Public associations of Russian-speakers in many countries have come to grips with overt persecutions and the main thing in this situation to stay adamant against provocations, to defend one’s convictions, to honor the ancestors, and to defend one’s national identity and independence," he said in conclusion.
Karasin gave the assurances that the Russian Foreign Ministry would continue assistance to the compatriots abroad.