WASHINGTON, September 17. /TASS/. US media claims about alleged spying activities by staff members of the Russian embassy in Washington put the lives of Russian diplomats at risk, the Russian embassy said in a statement released on Monday.
"The extensive crisis of the Russiagate that broke out after the Mueller’s report jeopardized the entire long-term Russophobic campaign in the U.S. media fueled by the so-called ‘expert community,’" the embassy said in a statement. "The artificial and purely domestic political ‘assignment’ to smear Russia and unrestrained sanction hysteria are becoming clear."
At the same time, certain circles of the Washington establishment "cannot put up with the prospects of normalizing bilateral relations."
"Gradual restoration of Russia-U.S. dialogue on a number of pressing international issues most likely causes strong rejection on their side. One cannot misinterpret the response of the ‘deep state’ representatives, whose fabrications laid the foundation of the Yahoo News publication. Once again Russian diplomats were targeted by their fake ‘exposures,’" the embassy statement reads.
"The authors never cited a single fact and provided zero evidence of the Russian citizens violating any U.S. norms and laws. Moreover, a number of groundless accusations against diplomats and their family members listed in the article pose a direct threat to their safety," it continues. "We intend to request clarification from the U.S. Department of State since such provocative publications can lead to acts of violence against the Embassy staff and their close ones."
Clumsy attempt
According to the Russian side, all those developments illustrate "the chronic inability of the host country to provide normal working conditions for our diplomatic mission."
"Earlier, no apologies were made to the Embassy and its employees for the release of their banking information (via BuzzFeed). The U.S. no longer complies with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations in its affairs with official representatives of other states," the embassy’s comment says.
"We couldn’t but take note of this clumsy attempt to justify the seizure of Russian diplomatic property through spy hysteria. This is a new chapter in the story for which Washington should be ashamed of. Originally the administration justified its actions by ‘the Russian meddling in the elections’. Now this ‘theory’ is falling apart right before our eyes. That is why they are forced to make up fables," the embassy said.
US portal Yahoo News earlier reported, citing own sources, that during US ex-president Barack Obama’s tenure, Russian intelligence managed to gain unauthorized access to several communication systems of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). The portal’s sources claimed that Russia used the diplomatic compounds in the states of New York and Maryland for the purpose. Those facilities were allegedly used to store some of the equipment that intercepted communication signals.