MOSCOW, July 12. /TASS/. A US embassy employee stole a railroad sign in Russia’s Tver Region in spring 2021, endangering the lives of train passengers, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova disclosed in her Telegram channel Monday.

"What is not funny is the danger that the US citizen put the lives and health of train passengers in. The Ostashkov hub is a rather busy part of the railroad. A railroad is a high danger area. If the missing sign was not discovered promptly, a tragedy could have happened," she said.

According to Zakharova, this story became known due to police pre-investigation actions. Police officers determined that an unidentified man stole the switch sign and put it in the trunk of a car with red (diplomatic) license plates.

"The very same day, a car with the same license plate was pulled by traffic police in the Tver region for a traffic rules violation. The car was driven by an employee of the American embassy who fit the description," the diplomat said.

She added that the embassy employee retained his diplomatic immunity but had to return to the US.