VLADIVOSTOK, September 4. /TASS/. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov sees the persecution of dissidents in today’s United States as a throwback to the McCarthy-era "witch hunts" of old, with the search of Russian political pundit Dmitry Symes’ home being a perfect example of this.

"This is a witch hunt. The United States already went through such dark pages in its history in the days of McCarthyism, when they went after dissenters and threw them in prison, torturing them and so forth. We tend to forget that this actually took place. And now, it’s happening all over again," the spokesman said. Peskov added that now, unlike the McCarthyism of the 1940s-1950s, it is proceeding in the US "in a more colorful, more sophisticated way, given the level of technological development."

Earlier, reports emerged that the FBI conducted a search at Symes' home in Virginia. He told TASS that he was given no forward notice that they were coming.

In 2023, Symes was a moderator of the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).