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Diplomat says US continues to 'hunt' Russian citizens, Moscow demands to stop it

As Nadezhda Shumova reports, Russian diplomats are actively engaged in defending the rights of their fellow citizens who are detained, on trial or under investigation in the US

SALT LAKE CITY /Utah/, February 3. /TASS/. The United States continues to ‘hunt’ Russian citizens in third countries despite Moscow's demands to stop such practices, Nadezhda Shumova, head of the consular department of the Russian Embassy in the US, said.

"I have to say that the ‘hunt’ for Russians in third countries unleashed by the Americans continues. Since 2008, we have already recorded 58 [such] cases," the diplomat, who is on a short-term business trip to Salt Lake City, Utah, told TASS on Thursday. "For our part, we demand that Washington stop such practices. Especially since there is a treaty between our countries on mutual legal assistance in criminal cases, the provisions of which the US persistently ignores," Shumova stressed.

According to her, Russian diplomats are actively engaged in defending the rights of their fellow citizens who are detained, on trial or under investigation in the US. "Protecting the rights of Russian citizens held in US prisons is our priority. It is impossible to remain indifferent to the problems of our compatriots. Investigators often exert psychological pressure on them in order to make them ‘cooperate’. Our citizens are systematically denied necessary medical assistance and medications. We will never accept this state of things. We will continue to seek the release of the Russians and their return to their homeland," Shumova said.