Envoy says Russian diplomats in U.S. are threatened, enticed by FBI (updated)

BLGI

15/05/2022 01:53

(Adds responses from CIA, FBI.)
    May 14 (Reuters) - Russian diplomats in Washington are being
threatened with violence and U.S. intelligence services try to
make contact with them, Tass news agency cited the ambassador as
saying on Saturday.
    Anatoly Antonov told Russian television that since Russia
invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, face-to-face meetings with U.S.
officials had ended.
    "It's like a besieged fortress. Basically, our embassy is
operating in a hostile environment ... Embassy employees are
receiving threats, including threats of physical violence," Tass
quoted him as saying.
    "Agents from U.S. security services are hanging around
outside the Russian embassy, handing out CIA and FBI phone
numbers, which can be called to establish contact." 
    CIA and the FBI declined comment. The Office of the Director
of National Intelligence and the U.S. State Department did not
immediately return messages seeking comment.
    The Russian ambassador to Poland was doused in a red
substance on Monday by people protesting against the war.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2X133G
    Russia and the United States had been locked in a dispute
over the size and functioning of their respective diplomatic
missions long before Russia invaded Ukraine.
    Moscow expelled a number of U.S. diplomats in March after
Washington said it was kicking out 12 Russian diplomats at the
country's U.N. mission in New York.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2VQ247

 (Reporting by David Ljunggren; Additional reporting by Raphael
Satter; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
 ((david.ljunggren@tr.com; +1 647 480 7891;))