Kremlin: the US has created extremely difficult work conditions for Russian diplomats
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said on Russia 1 TV that the conditions in which Russian diplomats work in the United States, in particular the Russian extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak, is harassment, RIA Novosti reports.
"The conditions in which Russian diplomats work are very difficult, I think that one can understand that these people need moral support from all of us as well ... This is not an information campaign, it's actual harassment directed against Ambassador Kislyak," the diplomat said.
The Foreign Ministry spokesperson added that the harassment by the United States concerns Russia as a whole.
"This applies not only to Kislyak, but to all of us, because he does not represent himself, he represents not the Russian Foreign Ministry, he represents our country," Zakharova emphasized.
Since 2008, Kislyak has held the post of Russia's ambassador to the United States. The diplomat has been implicated in the scandal with Russia's interference in the American elections.
President Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, resigned after the White House announced that Flynn had not fully told the US intelligence services about the content of his conversation with Kislyak. In addition, Attorney General Jeff Sessions withdrew from the investigation into Russia's connections with Trump's entourage after it became known about his meeting with the Russian ambassador.
Earlier, former US Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, said that Kislyak will soon leave his post. To this, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation replied that the question of the rotation of Russian ambassadors is up to the Russian president, and definitely not in the purview of "a retired American official."