Russia slams US move on honorary consuls, provocations
Russia has condemned a US decision to withdraw credentials of most of the Russian honorary consuls as well as Washington’s “provocations” against Moscow.
"We are indignant about Washington's decision to withdraw the accreditation of five out of six honorary consuls of the Russian Federation in the United States,” Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Friday.
She added that the affected honorary consuls who were based in Utah, California, Minnesota, Florida and Puerto Rico, “could even face prosecution.”
Zakharova also said in the statement that the US is spreading anti-Russian propaganda and accused US intelligence of conducting "provocations" against Russian diplomats in the United States and elsewhere.
The United States and its European allies accuse Moscow of destabilizing Ukraine and have imposed a number of sanctions against Russian and pro-Russia figures. Moscow, which has retaliated with sanctions of its own, denies having a hand in the Ukrainian crisis.
"Attempts to accuse us of escalating tensions in the bilateral affairs to justify such inadequate actions do not stand up to criticism,” the statement said.
"It is common knowledge that it was the United States that unleashed the sanctions aggression against Russia and is carrying out large-scale Russophobic propaganda all over the world trying to shirk responsibility for supporting the armed coup in Ukraine and the bloody war in [the eastern region of] Donbass,” the statement added.
The United Nations says more than 9,000 people have been killed and more than 20,000 injured in the conflict in Ukraine since April 2014.
A truce agreement reached between Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France in the Belorussian capital of Minsk in February 2015 significantly reduced fighting, but sporadic clashes have continued on the front lines.
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