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US officials to visit American national detained in Moscow for sexual abuse

US State Department officials plan to visit soon an American national detained in Russia on suspicion of sexual abuse of a minor

WASHINGTON, November 8. /TASS/. U.S. State Department officials plan to visit soon a U.S. national detained in Moscow on suspicion of sexual abuse of a minor, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told TASS on Tuesday.

According to the spokesperson, it is a routine practice with the Department of State to visit U.S. nationals detained abroad and offer such people all-round consular support.

"We have seen media reports of a U.S. citizen arrested in Moscow. In cases where U.S. citizens are detained overseas, the Department seeks to visit as soon as possible and works to provide all appropriate consular assistance," the spokesperson said.

"Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment,·" he added.

Maria Olson, a spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, told TASS earlier that the U.S. side expects an official notification about the detention of the U.S. citizen from Russia within three days. By now, the embassy has no information about that, she said.

She said that under the existing Russia-U.S. agreements, the sides are obliged to notify about the detention or arrest of the other side’s citizens in a span of from one to three days.

Earlier, the press service of the Russian Investigations Committee said that a U.S. citizen had been detained in Moscow on charges of committing sexual violence against a 14-year-old girl.