The United States on Monday accused Russia of attempting to intimidate and harass America employees working in country.
The accusation follows Russian state media reporting a former U.S. consulate worker was charged by security services with collecting information for Washington on the war in Ukraine and other issues.
Russian state news agency TASS quoted the Russian government’s Federal Security Service as saying that Robert Shonov, a Russian national, relayed information to U.S. embassy staffers in Moscow on how Russia was impacting political discontent ahead of the 2024 presidential election in Russia.
The State Department on Monday repeated the U.S. position that the allegations against Shonov, who Washington says was subsequently employed via a company contracted to the U.S. embassy to summarize news reports after working at the U.S. Consulate General in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok for more than 25 years, are “without merit.”