NEW YORK, May 24. /TASS/. The Russian embassy’s diplomats in Washington have experienced a wave of targeted social-media ads urging them to commit an act of betrayal, Russia’s ambassador Anatoly Antonov is quoted by The Wall Street Journal as saying.

"They send us messages: ‘You have to betray your motherland!’" said Antonov, who has served as Moscow’s ambassador since 2017. The FBI confirmed the outreach campaign.

The daily mentioned no other details from the US secret service.

Antonov also told the daily that "once a man set up a stool on a curb near an entrance to the embassy, where he handed out FBI business cards and encouraged visitors to give him a call."

The FBI did not comment on that incident, but said in a statement that Russia "has long been a counterintelligence threat to the US" and that the FBI "would like to speak to anyone who can help us minimize those threats and keep our country safe".