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Russian Chargе d'Affaires in US summoned to Department of State

Sergey Koshelev strongly rejected groundless allegations against Russia on destabilizing actions, Russia’s embassy in the United States said

WASHINGTON, April 24. /TASS/. The Russian Charge d’Affaires Sergey Koshelev was summoned to the US Department of State on Friday where he strongly rejected groundless allegations against Russia on destabilizing actions, Russia’s embassy in the United States wrote on its Twitter page on Saturday.

"Today, the Russian Charge d’Affaires used the meeting in Department of State to strongly reject groundless allegations against Russia on destabilizing actions across the Euro-Atlantic area," the embassy said.

It also attached a note in Twitter by the US Department of State Europe and Eurasia, saying that the Russian Charge d’Affaires was summoned "to express concern over the destabilizing actions Russia continues to carry out across the Euro-Atlantic area," and "demonstrate full support for the Czech Republic."

The Russian-Czech relationship deteriorated sharply after the Czech officials announced on April 17 the expulsion of 18 employees of the Russian Embassy in Prague, who, according to the Czech authorities, are "officers of Russia’s SVR and GRU intelligence agencies." Prague justified the move by citing claims of some newly-discovered circumstances related to an ammunition depot blast that had occurred in the eastern Czech village of Vrbetice in 2014. The Russian Foreign Ministry protested against the move that Prague had taken "under false pretenses," and declared 20 employees of the Czech Embassy in Moscow personae non grata.

Russian-US relations soured following US President Joe Biden’s notorious ABC News interview when he said that Moscow would have to "pay a price" for its allegedly meddling in America’s elections and made tough talk against Russian President Vladimir Putin. After that, Ambassador Antonov was invited to Moscow for consultations and has been staying in the Russian capital since March 21. On April 15, Biden signed an executive order to impose a new round of sanctions against Moscow, whereas Russia announced retaliation measures on April 16.