MOSCOW, April 18. /TASS/. A strong protest has been expressed to the US ambassador in Moscow, Lynne Tracy, over provocative statements in support of journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza (recognized as a foreign agent in Russia), the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

"A strong protest was expressed to the head of the US diplomatic mission, summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on April 18, in connection with provocative statements ‘in support of’ Vladimir Kara-Murza, convicted of high treason and spreading knowingly false information about the Russian army," the Foreign Ministry Ministry said.

Such actions, committed publicly in order to exert pressure on the authorities and courts of law, the Foreign Ministry said, constitute blatant interference in the internal affairs of Russia.

"It was also noted that against the background of shameless suppression of dissent in the United States itself attempts to defend an ‘agent of influence’ supervised by Washington and other Western capitals look hypocritical and ridiculous," the Foreign Ministry pointed out.

The ministry also stressed that "any steps by the US side aimed at fomenting hatred and hostility in Russian society, as well as attempts to use the diplomatic mission as a cover for subversive work, will be harshly suppressed.

The Foreign Ministry added that the presence in Moscow of all US embassy staffers who violate the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and abuse their status will be terminated ahead of time.

On Monday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described the statements made by the British, US and Canadian ambassadors after the sentencing of journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza as direct interference in Russia's internal affairs. The diplomat stressed that Moscow found impermissible the statements made by British ambassador Deborah Bronnert after the verdict to Kara-Murza was read out, and warned London against politicizing international human rights issues.

Zakharova also described as extremely hypocritical the US and Canadian ambassadors' demands that Kara-Murza be released at a time when their own countries were shamelessly violating human rights and persecuting dissidents.