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US diplomats to give explanations over "protest routes’ in Russia — diplomat

The US embassy in Moscow also injected the information about a ‘march on the Kremlin’, Maria Zakharova said

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Russian Foreign Ministry Press Office/TASS

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

© Russian Foreign Ministry Press Office/TASS

MOSCOW, January 23. /TASS/. US diplomats will have to give explanations at the Russian Foreign Ministry after the US embassy in Moscow published "the itineraries of protests" in the Russian cities, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS on Saturday.

"Yesterday the US embassy in Moscow published ‘the protest routes’ in Russian cities and injected the information about a ‘march on the Kremlin’. What was that: a setup or an instruction? Even the organizers had not announced these plans," she said.

"The US diplomats will have to provide explanations at the Russian Foreign Ministry," she added.

"We can imagine what could have happened if Russia’s embassy in Washington had published a map of protest routes with destinations, for example at the Capitol. This kind of orienteering should have ended up with a global hysteria of American politicians, including Russophobic slogans, the threats of sanctions and the expulsion of Russian diplomats," the diplomat added.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier that the information, posted on the US embassy’s site, about the times and locations for unsanctioned rallies was going beyond concern for US nationals in Russia. Moscow would view the attempts of the US embassy in Moscow to "cover" the unauthorized rallies in Russia as interference in internal affairs, the ministry warned.

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