WASHINGTON -- Russia's Foreign Ministry has launched a fresh volley in an increasingly ugly war of words with its U.S. counterparts, calling a former U.S. envoy incompetent and complaining that Washington was pressuring Russian diplomats
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova is known for
her caustic remarks, but her June 28 comments, including allegations of
high-level "incompetence," were unusually blunt.
U.S. officials have complained in recent weeks that American
diplomats in Moscow and elsewhere have been subjected to harassment and
increased surveillance.
The public spat comes with U.S.-Russian relations arguably
at their lowest point since the Cold War, with mutual sanctions over Russian
actions in Ukraine and both Moscow, frequently frosty rhetoric at the highest
levels, and NATO planning an increased military presence near Russian
borders.
The Washington Post reported on June 27 that
Secretary of State John Kerry had raised the issue of diplomats' treatment with
President Vladimir Putin when he visited Moscow in March.
Zakharova complained of U.S. harassment and singled out
Michael McFaul, who served as U.S. ambassador to Moscow from 2012-14 and
reported being harassed by Russian security agents and ambushed by state-run TV
reporters, and was quoted in the article.
She called the Washington Post article "half-baked"
and noted the quotes attributed to McFaul.
"We remember his professional incompetence. McFaul's
diplomatic mission fell through with a crash,"she said at a briefing in Moscow. "It's
possible that it was his efforts that contributed to the worsening of bilateral
relations."
One U.S. official recently told RFE/RL that diplomats and
their families have been pulled over by traffic police with unusual frequency
over the past month, and shadowed by Russian security agents to an unusual
degree.
"We have raised and we will continue to raise at the
highest level any incidents inconsistent with protections guaranteed by
international law, and we will respond appropriately in accordance with U.S.
and international law," U.S. State Department spokesman Elizabeth Trudeau told
reporters on June 27.
Zakharova said: "The United States thinks up ever new
restrictions for our diplomats, who are faced with continued provocations by
the CIA and the FBI. It repeatedly takes impermissible measures, including
psychological pressures, while family members have to watch. In some cases such
actions occurred in the presence of our diplomats' pregnant wives."
McFaul, who now teaches at Stanford University in
California, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but he did
post a series of incredulous, half-mocking messages on Twitter.
The issue of surveillance and counterintelligence has also
attracted the attention of lawmakers in the U.S. Senate, who have introduced
legislation that would impose new restrictions on the travel of Russian diplomats in
the United States.
The alleged treatment of U.S. diplomats in Russia has
prompted the U.S. State Department to take other measures, including conducting
special training sessions on how to watch for and respond to covert and overt
surveillance, according to the U.S. official.
The official said other measures seen as pressuring Western
diplomats include restricting accreditation for teachers working at one of the
main international schools in Moscow, the Anglo-American School. Some teachers
are being forced to acquire diplomatic passports, which he said is becoming
particularly problematic for British and Canadian teachers at the school.
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