Three U.S. Embassy staff in Russia face expulsion over allegations of property theft

By Robyn Dixon,

Ivan Sekretarev AP

MOSCOW — Russia on Friday accused three U.S. Embassy employees of theft and demanded that they leave the country or face prosecution, exacerbating already tense relations.

Russia’s foreign ministry accused the three staff members of “stealing personal belongings from a Russian citizen.” No details of the alleged incident were offered.

The ministry demanded that their diplomatic immunity from prosecution be immediately lifted so they could face court — otherwise they must leave the country immediately.

Recent months have seen a steady, rising drumbeat in sharp rhetoric from Moscow, as officials amplify the sense of a Western threat against Russia.

The Russian state-owned news agency Tass said the alleged theft occurred Sept. 18 and reported that the Interior Ministry estimated the value of the stolen items at just over $200.

Independent news outlet Chtd, which is critical of the Putin regime, reported through its channel on the encrypted messaging platform Telegram that the allegation against three administrative and technical staff from the embassy is related to the taking of a backpack from a man in a cafe in central Moscow.

Moscow’s move Friday comes days after NATO expelled eight Russian diplomats, accusing them of spying.

It also follows Russia’s anger over a call by a group of U.S. senators Tuesday for the expulsions of 300 Russian diplomats. Russian officials said if that proposal were implemented, Russia would force the closure of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

The row is the latest in a series of incidents following the August 2020 poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was jailed in February on charges he says are political. Last March, the United States levied sanctions against seven Russian officials around President Vladimir Putin, blocking their access to various U.S. assets.

Among those blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury were Andrei Yarin, the chief of the Kremlin’s domestic policy directorate; Alexander Bortnikov, the director of Russia’s domestic intelligence service, the Federal Security Service (FSB); and deputy ministers of defense Alexei Krivoruchko and Pavel Popov.

In April, Washington expelled 10 Russian diplomats and imposed more sanctions on several dozen Russian individuals and companies, saying they were associated with malign Russian activities.

In response, Moscow advised U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan to go home to Washington for consultations and recalled its own ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov.

Sullivan resisted the initial “recommendation” to depart from Yuri Usakov, a top foreign policy aide to Putin, however he flew out soon afterward.

As part of its response, Russia also barred eight former and current U.S. officials from entering Russia and banned the U.S. Embassy from hiring Russian or third-country nationals. The move saw the U.S. Embassy’s visa section slow its issuing of visas due to what it called staff shortages.

The two ambassadors returned to their posts in June, after a slight thawing in relations following a meeting that month between President Biden and Putin in Helsinki.

Relations remain frosty, however, while talks have been ongoing on areas where there appears to be potential for cooperation on issues such as strategic arms limitation and climate change.

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