Alwaght- The United States’ spy agencies are trying to contact expelled Russian diplomats with the objective of recruiting them as spies, the Russian foreign ministry said on Friday.
"We observe a dramatic increase in provocative actions against Russian diplomats in the United States," the ministry said. "In the recent days, following the decision on the ungrounded expulsion of 60 employees of Russian diplomatic missions in that country, the US intelligence services are taking frenzied efforts to get in contact with them."
The Russian Foreign Ministry drew attention to a series of episodes when Washington was attempting to "offer ‘assistance’ for covert relations ‘on the mutually beneficial basis’" to those it was forcing to cut short their missions.
"The United States has obviously decided to put through a combination: the official authorities expel Russian diplomats for no good reason and the US intelligence services, which have been acting more and more aggressively, are rushing to use this difficult moment for our nationals," the ministry said. "These obvious plans are failing but such conduct is cynical and loathsome as though Washington no longer sees the bounds of elementary decency."
"We take note of each of such cases and make conclusions," the ministry stressed.
Expulsion of Russian diplomats
On March 26, Washington announced its decision to expel 60 Russian diplomats, including 48 embassy staff and 12 members of Russia’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations. Apart from that, it said Russia’s Consulate General in Seattle would be closed.
The move was prompted by the incident involving the alleged poisoning of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal who had been convicted in Russia of spying for Great Britain and was later swapped for Russian intelligence officers.
Russia has denied any involvement in the incident, which occurred on March 4 in the British city of Salisbury. The Skripals are being treated in a UK hospital.
The UK claims the nerve agent allegedly used in the poisoning was Novichok, which was developed in the former Soviet Union, basing its accusations against Moscow on that assertion.
Russia ordered the expulsion of diplomats from at least 23 countries Friday, as a reciprocal move after those countries expelled Russian diplomats in solidarity with the United Kingdom over the poisoning of a former Russian double agent.
More than 20 countries announced this week that they would expel Russian diplomats in support of Britain which took similar action.
