Fighting back

Moscow rejects accusations of pressure on American diplomats in Russia. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that such statements only worsen the atmosphere of bilateral relations even more, RIA Novosti reports .

“Instead of solving the problem, they begin to aggravate it again,” Zakharova said at a briefing. According to her, Russian diplomats in the United States themselves are faced with unacceptable pressure from the FBI and the CIA.

"Our employees, Russian diplomats are constantly faced with provocations by the FBI, the CIA. In particular, employees of the mentioned structures are not embarrassed to apply unacceptable measures to our diplomats, including pressure, psychological pressure, even in the presence of their families," said Zakharova.

Thus, Zakharova commented on the article published the day before The Washington Post, which said that the Kremlin’s special services systematically terrorize American diplomats working in Russia and European countries.

As reported on Twitter of the Foreign Ministry, Zakharova stated that the appearance of this article suggests that the United States intentionally undermines bilateral relations. “The key principle of diplomacy is reciprocity,” the official emphasized . “The stronger the United States spoil relations, the more difficult the American diplomats will work in Russia.”

In a similar manner, the official representative of the Russian embassy in the United States spoke in the commentary in the publication of The Washington Post. He stated that Moscow "never on its own initiative did harm to American diplomats," and the presence of problems is due to a deterioration in relations between the two countries. The US official added guilty of this deterioration, and "the principle of a mirror response always applies in diplomatic practice."

The article The Washington Post said that Russian security forces use different forms of pressure on American diplomats: they are pursuing them on the streets, monitor their relatives, are without invitation to social events and bribe journalists to exhibit diplomass employees in bad light.

It was also reported about night cases of penetration of diplomats. It was told that the visits rearranged the furniture, turned on the light and removed. The secret note of one of the diplomats was mentioned with the message that after such a visit to his house he found on the stool. The newspaper also wrote that special services officers pierce tires on wheels of cars used by diplomats.

Most often, such incidents happen in Moscow, the newspaper wrote. They have been taking place for a long time - even in the first cadence of US President Barack Obama, security officials killed the dog of an American military attache. However, after 2014, such antics have become more frequent.

In the light of what was said, the publication noted, the US State Department takes measures. All employees going to Europe are pre -briefing. In March of this year, Secretary of State John Kerry demanded that Vladimir Putin stop such antics. Nevertheless, the incidents have not stopped since then.

On Monday, the official representative of the State Department Elizabeth Trudeau confirmed the information published by the publication. "For two years, disturbing actions and observation of diplomatic personnel in Moscow by security services and traffic police have intensified significantly. Other embassies of Western countries have reported the same thing," Trudeau said at a briefing. At the same time, according to her, similar accusations from Russian diplomats are deprived of grounds. “Russian statements about disturbing actions are not justified,” said the representative of the State Department.