Russian officials remove US diplomats from train during official trip to Severodvinsk
Three US embassy employees were removed from the Nyonoksa – Severodvinsk train in Russia since they lacked authorization to enter the restricted territory, Interfax reports, citing an informed source.
The US diplomats included Navy Attache Curtis, Attache Arriola and Attache Colonel Dann.
“Since this territory is restricted, the US embassy staff were removed from the train, and signs of an administrative offense have been perceived in their actions,” the report reads.
The source noted that the US citizens who were taken off the train did not have the necessary documents to enter the restricted territory. After their documents were inspected, all three of them were released.
On August 8 there was an explosion in the Severodvinsk region which killed five people and led to an increase in radiation levels. Various international news outlets theorized that the Russians could have been testing the new Skyfall missile, known in Russia as the “Burevestnik”. The missile was unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018.
Two days after the explosion, the Russian state-owned nuclear energy corporation Rosatom confirmed that five of its employees had been killed and three wounded at a military testing range in Russia’s Arkhangelsk province.
Rosatom said that the explosion occurred during the testing of a jet propulsion system during engineering work related to “isotopic power sources”.
US intelligence believes that the explosion that released the radiation in northern Russia may have been caused by an attempt to recover a nuclear missile from the sea floor.