Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has accused the FBI of planting incriminating material at the Russian consulate in San Francisco.
Zakharova said the FBI had entered the consulate without seeking permission from Russia.
“What was their goal?” she said Friday at a weekly press briefing. “Is it not an attempt by the American special services to arrange an anti-Russian provocation and perhaps either to plant compromising materials in the building or to somehow find them later?”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry published footage on its Facebook page on Sunday which allegedly shows FBI officials searching its San Francisco office. It also said security services had threatened to break down the consulate’s doors. The U.S. State Department has denied the allegations.
Relations between the countries have worsened after Russia ordered the United States to cut its diplomatic staff in response to new sanctions, and Washington closed Russia’s San Francisco consulate and two other annexes.
Speaking on Friday, Zakharova said that “the American security services and the FBI are behind everything that’s going on now with Russian diplomats.”
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this week that Russia is preparing to sue the United States for confiscating the three properties.
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