US Expels Two Russian Officials Over Police Attack in Moscow
by VOA News July 09, 2016
The United States has expelled two Russian diplomats in retaliation for an attack on a U.S. diplomat in Moscow at the hands of Russian police.
U.S. State Department Spokesman John Kirby said Friday the two unnamed Russian officials were expelled June 17, almost two weeks after he said a Russian guard attacked a U.S. diplomat outside the U.S. embassy compound in Moscow.
A video released earlier in the week by Russian state television network NTV shows a man leaving a taxi in front of the embassy and being immediately tackled by a Russian guard who came out of a sentry box. The two wrestle on the ground for a few moments before the man is able to crawl through the entrance of the building.
Kirby said the attack occurred after the American diplomat had identified himself to the guard.
"The action was unprovoked and it endangered the safety of our employee," Kirby said.
Earlier in the week, a Russian spokeswoman claimed the U.S. official was an undercover CIA agent who had refused to identify himself and punched the guard in the face.
"Instead of the CIA employee, who was in disguise, as we understand, it could have been anyone - a terrorist, an extremist, a suicide bomber," Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
Kirby denied the Russian accusation that the man was a CIA agent.
"The Russian claim that the policeman was protecting the embassy from an unidentified individual is simply untrue," he said.
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