The US State Department’s recommendation to Americans to leave Russia was a provocation. This was announced on February 17 during a briefing by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.
“Another American provocation regarding the statements of the State Department to American citizens to refrain from traveling to Russia and Belarus, and vice versa – to leave if they are there,” the diplomat noted.
According to her, threats from the US Foreign Office about the threat of arrest, extortion or arbitrary detention are typical of the discriminatory treatment that Russians are subjected to in the United States.
Earlier, on February 12, the US Embassy in Moscow urged American citizens to leave Russia promptly and refrain from traveling to the country. The diplomatic mission explained this by the risk of “unpredictable consequences”, allegedly refusing to leave the country for Americans with dual citizenship and depriving them of the opportunity to receive consular assistance.
On February 7, a note was handed over to the US embassy in Moscow demanding an end to interference in Russia’s internal affairs. According to a source close to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the new US ambassador, Lynn Tracy, has been given a hard line on the need to strictly comply with Russian laws.
On January 30, Zakharova noted that one of Tracy’s most important tasks is not to worsen relations between countries even more.