SOURCE : MOSCOW TIMES
Moscow on Thursday said it was expelling two U.S. Embassy employees for allegedly “liaising” with a former U.S. consulate worker accused by Russian authorities of spying for Washington.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the two American diplomats, Jeffery Sillin and David Bernstein, were engaged in “illegal activities by liaising with a Russian citizen, [Robert] Shonov.”
“The U.S. ambassador was told that Sillin and Bernstein must leave the territory of Russia within seven days under the status of persona non grata,” the Foreign Ministry said.
Shonov had worked for the U.S. consulate in Vladivostok for more than 25 years until 2021, when Moscow imposed restrictions on local staff working for foreign missions.
