Moscow has expressed a strong protest to the US Ambassador in Moscow John Sullivan in connection with the support of the American diplomatic mission for the uncoordinated actions that took place on January 23 in Russian cities. This was announced by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova on the air of the First Channel.
According to her, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov had previously met with Sullivan. “A strong protest was made to the American side in connection with the dissemination of posts by the American Embassy in Russia in social networks and on their Internet resources supporting the illegal action in a number of Russian cities,” Zakharova said. She stressed that Russia has informed the American diplomat that it considers such publications as direct interference in its internal affairs.
In addition, according to Zakharova, Moscow will deal with the actions of the US Internet giants, who disseminated fake information on the day of the uncoordinated action and the day before.
Earlier, the US State Department condemned the use of force by law enforcement officials against citizens and journalists during the unauthorized actions that took place in Russia. Before that, before the start of the unauthorized actions, the US Embassy in Russia published a list of cities, the time of the beginning of the rallies and the approximate route of their participants. The Russian Foreign Ministry warned that any attempts to cover unauthorized rallies would be regarded as gross interference in the country's internal affairs.
In the afternoon of January 23, uncoordinated actions were held in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities of Russia in support of Alexei Navalny, who was arrested on January 18 for repeated violations of the conditions for observing the probationary period in the Yves Rocher case.
