Moscow summons US, UK, Canada ambassadors over domestic interference
The ambassadors were summoned over carrying out "activities that do not correspond to their diplomatic status."
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Russian Foreign Ministry building in Moscow (TASS)
Russia summoned the US, UK, and Canadian ambassadors on Tuesday over interference in the country's internal affairs.
The three ambassadors were summoned for “gross interference in Russia’s internal affairs and activities that do not correspond to their diplomatic status,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
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The summoning comes a day after Kara-Murza, a Russian citizen who also holds a British passport, was sentenced by Russia's judiciary to 25 years in prison on charges of treason among others.
Canadian ambassador Alison LeClaire said the "verdict is a sad testament to the dark turn this struggle [for democracy] has come to.”
Spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said the envoys would be called in “to refresh their memories... so that they remember what diplomats should and should not do.”
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Last March, a US journalist working for The Wall Street Journal was arrested in Russia on charges of spying for Washington.
Evan Gershkovich, 31, was detained in, "Yekaterinburg while attempting to obtain classified information," Russia's FSB security services said then. After investigations by the FSB, the American citizen was later "charged with espionage in the interests of his country."
The foreigner was "acting on the instructions of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex," the security service added.
Over the arrest, Russia's Ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, was summoned by the State Department earlier this month.
Antonov met with Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland who reportedly told the envoy that Russia should release Gershkovich.
In response, Antonov read to Nuland Russia’s public statement on the reporter's case.
When asked if he is going to expel Russian diplomats in response to the arrest of Gershkovich, US President Joe Biden said, "That’s not the plan right now."
