UNITED NATIONS, April 25. /TASS/. At present, around 60 Russian citizens are being housed in US jails, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters during his visit to New York.

"Around 60 of our people are being kept [in US prisons]. In the majority of cases, the charges against them are very questionable," he said at a news conference to sum up the results of his visit to the United States within the framework of Russia’s presidency in the UN Security Council.

The top Russian diplomat went on to say that the US side did not bother to follow the requirements of the bilateral consular convention "while abducting our people from Europe and other countries."

"In accordance [with the convention], if they suspect Russian citizens of anything, they need to address the Russian Federation and explain their suspicions instead of abducting them like in some sort of Hollywood blockbuster," the minister added.

He added that after a meeting in Geneva in 2021, the United States and Russia set up a special communication channel to discuss issues of "detained Russian citizens in the US and detained US citizens in the Russian Federation.".