MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/. Russia insists on a stop to the string of provocations against Russian officials by US secret services. It also demands prompt consular access to the detained deputy representative of Vneshekonombank in the United States, Yevgeny Buryakov, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Tuesday.
"According to the available reports, a deputy representative of Vneshekonombank in that country, Yevgeny Buryakov, has been detained," Lukashevich said. "He and two other former employees of Russian diplomatic offices in New York are accused of gathering intelligence. No proof to back up the charges has been presented."
"One gets an impression the US authorities have decided to resort to their favourite tactic of unfolding spy scandals," Lukashevich said. "Due to Washington’s hostile stance Russian-US relations have long experienced no easy times. Apparently, the United States follows "the worse - the better" principle in an attempt to start another spiral of an anti-Russian campaign."
"The effects of such actions, aggravating the atmosphere of bilateral relations and undermining the prospects of our cooperation, will remain a matter of conscience of their masterminds," Lukashevich said. "We insist on a stop to the string of provocations against Russian representatives unleashed by US secret services, and on immediate consular access to Buryakov, on the strict observance of the Russian citizen’s rights and on his release."