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United States alleges Russia is harassing diplomats

By Allen Cone

WASHINGTON, June 28 (UPI) -- The U.S. State Department is accusing Russia of increasing intimidation of its diplomats.

State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said in a press briefing Monday that harassment by Russian security agents and traffic police had been going on for the past two years.

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"We see an increase and we take it seriously," she said.

Secretary of State John Kerry discussed the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 24, Trudeau said.

Also, other Western agencies had reported their diplomats were harassed in Moscow.

U.S. ambassadors to several European countries at a meeting complained about the harassment by Russians. They say it included following diplomats or their family members, showing up uninvited at their social events or paying reporters to write negative stories about them.

The Washington Post also reported diplomats said their homes had been broken into late at night with the furniture rearranged, or lights and televisions turned on. One diplomat reported someone defecated on his living room carpet.

The instances have increased since the 2014 Russian intervention in Ukraine, the State Department says, and the U.S.-imposed sanctions against Russian officials and businesses.

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"Since the return of Putin, Russia has been engaged in an increasingly aggressive gray war across Europe," Norm Eisen, U.S. ambassador the Czech Republic from 2011 to 2014, said to The Washington Post. "Now it's in retaliation for Western sanctions because of Ukraine. ...They are hitting American diplomats literally where they live."

Moscow, however, alleges Washington also has been intimidating Russian diplomats.

Last week the Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a CNN report that Moscow has "felt a significant increase in pressure on the Russian Embassy and consulates general of our country in the United States."

Staff members abroad "regularly become the objects of provocations by the American secret services, face obstacles in making official contacts and other restrictions," including travel, Zakharova said.

Trudeau said Russia's claims are "without foundation."

In January, the U.S. stripped five of six Russian honorary consuls of credentials to retaliate for harassment in Moscow. They perform consular services on behalf of a foreign government.

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