A top Russian official has accused the FBI of planting incriminating material while conducting a search of its recently shuttered San Francisco consulate.
Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, made the suggestion during a weekly press briefing Friday in the aftermath of the U.S. State Department seizing the compound last weekend amid a tit-for-tat diplomatic spat between the two countries.
Signage outside the Russian Consulate in San Francisco where they were ordered to vacate within 48 hours. Credit: Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle
“What was their goal?” Ms. Zakharova asked, The Moscow Times reported. “It looks as if the American intelligence agencies are trying to organize an anti-Russian provocation and may even plant compromising material in the building or discover them somehow in the future,” said Ms. Zakharova via a translation by TASS news wire. “Because we don’t have the foggiest idea of what they are doing now.”
“This behavior is inappropriate for an entity based on international law and a permanent member of the UN Security Council that pioneered the modern system of international relations,” Ms. Zakharova said Friday. “Unfortunately, it threatens to morph into not just an incident, but a new American practice.”
The now abandoned Russian Consulate in San Francisco lies abandoned after entire mission was ordered to close and vacate premises with 48 hours. Credit: Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle
“How are you supposed to build dialogue and relations if you partner violates agreements after having accepted them, being a subject of international law?” she asked.
The FBI did not immediately respond to the spokeswoman’s claim.
The latest wave of expulsions involving U.S. and Russian officials began in Dec. 2016 when the Obama administration booted 35 alleged diplomats after intelligence officials concluded that Moscow interfered in last year’s White House race.
In a diplomatic tit-for-tat which was started by Barack Obama, Russian is accusing FBI for planting information on its San Francisco Embassy. Above Russian Consulate in Washington. Credit: Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Russia retaliated by ordering the U.S. to cut its diplomatic staff there in half last month, and last week the State Department closed Russia’s compounds in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., much to Moscow’s chagrin.
The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence has blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin with interfering in last year’s White House race to hurt Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton by using state-sponsored hackers and propagandists, though Moscow has denied involvement.
A Washington Times publication
Edited by Manyika Review
