WASHINGTON, May 11. /TASS/. Activists of the Russian-speaking community are being persecuted in the United States, and the Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriots has been dismantled, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said in an article published by Newsweek online magazine on Wednesday.
"Activists of the Russian-speaking diaspora are being persecuted. The Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriots, which used to contribute to enhancing relations between Russia and the United States and preserving ties with the historical Homeland, was smashed. Members of the organization are being interrogated and searched," Antonov said adding that Elena Branson, the head of the Council, was charged with working illegally as a foreign agent.
"Thus, Russophobia is formalized legislatively and legally," he stated.
The wave of anti-Russia sentiment, which is being stirred up by the media and resembles witch-hunt of the McCarthy era, has engulfed the United States, Antonov said.
"The United States has been swamped by a wave of Russophobia fueled by the media at the instigation of the ruling circles. The situation has taken the worst forms of the anti-communist paranoia and witch-hunt of the McCarthy era," the ambassador said.
According to the diplomat, "the unprecedentedly wide-spreading campaign to cancel everything Russian is accompanied by baseless and sweeping accusations against our country aimed at creating an image of Russia as an outcast.".
Russophobia has gone up to the level of everyday life, and Russian company are being vandalized, Antonov said.
Antonov asserts that in the United States "anti-Russian hysteria has quickly spread to everyday life."
"Russian cuisine restaurants and cafes, shops, centers for the study of our culture and even Orthodox cemeteries are being vandalized. Some states have proposed to ban the sale of Russian goods," the ambassador said adding that "Russian-speaking citizens are facing harassment at work. Some are being forced to resign."
"Such actions not only contradict the fundamental international legal documents, including the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but also violate the principles of U.S. law stipulating the inadmissibility of nationality-based discrimination," the Russian ambassador said.
Antonov expressed hope that the game of "canceling Russia" which borders on the ideas of racial superiority will end.
In an article published on Newsweek’s website on Wednesday, he said it was surprising "that we are witnessing xenophobia in a nation of immigrants that has proclaimed itself a ‘moral compass’ for the entire world." "Where are all those US human rights activists who have been monitoring so closely the situation with human rights in other countries?" the diplomat said.
"Even during the Cold War, our nations continued cultural, educational and scientific contacts. I just hope that common sense will prevail and help end the dangerous game of cancelling Russia, bordering on the ideas of racial superiority," the Russian envoy noted.