MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/. American political scientist and Russia’s Channel One host Dimitri Symes said his lawyers believe the FBI could have used the Foreign Agents Registration Act to search his US home.
"From the perspective of my lawyers, who still have not received any information, <...> the so-called FARA, the Foreign Agents Registration Act, can be the only explanation," he said on Channel One television.
According to the political scientist, the problem with this justification of the raid would be that the law implies efforts by the suspect to influence US policy or legislation.
"First of all, I repeat that I have not been in the United States for almost two years, and secondly, I work for Channel One, which does not broadcast in the United States, and which broadcasts in Russian. So to say that I have done something to influence American politics is at least not serious," Simes stated.
The pundit added that the house targeted by the FBI does not and cannot contain any information about him from the past two years. He noted that none of his electronic devices are in the house as they are all with him in Moscow.
"I don't really understand why they came to that house and what they were looking to find there," Simes said.
He said sanctions were imposed against Russian federal television channels, but, according to him, the US communicated an informal explanation to the Russian Foreign Ministry that said that "the restrictions were aimed at preventing any financial assistance to federal channels, any payments to federal channels, and not aimed at preventing people from expressing their opinions, as this right is enshrined in the US Constitution."
Simes earlier told TASS that he had not been formally notified about the FBI search of his Virginia home, which was conducted on Tuesday.
Simes, a political analyst, historian and TV host, was born in Moscow in 1947. In 1973, he moved to the United States. Last year he moderated a SPIEF plenary session attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and in June he participated in a closed-door meeting that the president held after his speech at the Foreign Ministry.