Russian Ambassador to the United States Antonov spoke about the threats of the US authorities to arrest Russian diplomats
Photo: Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters
By June 30, another 28 Russian diplomats will be forced to leave the United States. This was stated by the Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov on the YouTube channel “Solovyov Live”.
He recalled that 27 diplomats had already left Washington last week. “It was said that you were recommended and ordered to leave the United States,” Antonov said. At the same time, the American side threatened arrests in case of non-compliance with deadlines. According to Antonov, this is a “real expulsion”.
In October 2021, the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Russia, Maria Zakharova, reported that the United States demanded the departure of 55 more Russian diplomats and administrative and technical staff of diplomatic missions. She noted that taking into account the demands for the expulsion of Russians, the situation on the diplomatic “front” will only worsen.
Consultations did not bring results
Antonov said that on February 3, representatives of Russia and the United States held bilateral consultations on the normalization of the work of embassies. According to him, the negotiations ended in vain. As the Ambassador explained, the Russian side has prepared a program aimed at lifting restrictions on the activities of diplomats in the United States and in Russia, restoring the normal activities of diplomatic missions and ending the visa war.
Unfortunately, we received a negative response at these consultations
Anatoly Antonovposol of Russia in the USA
Answering the question about the possibility of severing diplomatic relations, the diplomat said that this issue is within the competence of the president.
The diplomatic missions will work until the last diplomat
Antonov also stressed that the Russian Embassy in the United States intends to defend national interests and at the same time do everything to normalize Russian-American relations. According to him, the diplomatic missions will work “until the last diplomat.”
The Ambassador expressed confidence that everyone loses from the bad state of relations between the two countries. He also doubted that Washington pursues the goal of completely destroying relations with Moscow.
Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported that the head of the department, Sergey Lavrov, and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken agreed to intensify work to relieve tension in the work of diplomatic missions. The diplomats discussed topical issues over the phone. The Russian Foreign Minister also raised the issue of supplying the Ukrainian army with weapons.
Accusations of preparing for an “invasion”
The diplomat also commented on the publication by Bloomberg about Russia’s “invasion” of Ukraine. He called this material an outrage that defies any explanation. As Antonov explained earlier, such accusations by the West are part of an information war directed against Moscow. At the same time, Russia is not going to attack anyone and is committed to good-neighborly relations with the people of Ukraine, he stressed.
Washington has been stirring up the whole world for several months with statements that Ukraine is about to become a victim of “Russian aggression”. However, bad luck came out, because there is no attack
Anatoly Antonovposol USA in Russia
Maria Zakharova noted the systematic stuffing of fakes on Bloomberg. In particular, she drew attention to a similar throw-in two weeks ago that allegedly Beijing and Moscow agreed that they would postpone the invasion of Ukraine in connection with the Olympics in Beijing.
On February 5, an article about the “beginning of the invasion” of Russia into Ukraine appeared on the Bloomberg website by mistake. Later, the publication apologized for publishing false data. The agency clarified that they are now investigating the circumstances of how such false and provocative material could appear on the site.
Since the fall of 2021, the West and Ukraine have been accusing Russia of preparing an attack on Ukraine. The Kremlin has repeatedly refuted these assumptions. Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, pointed to the lack of evidence of a “threat of invasion.”
