US expels 2 Russians after US diplomat attacked in Moscow

The United States last month expelled two Russian diplomats as a response to a Russian police guard tackling a USA diplomat outside the American Embassy in Moscow, the State Department said Friday.

“The action was unprovoked and it endangered the safety of our employee”.

The footage of the skirmish contradicts a version of the incident given by the Russian Foreign Ministry. He said the American was an accredited diplomat but otherwise declined to identify him.

According to NTV’s correspondent, the embassy guard – unaware of the existence of the video -responded to the report filed by the United States complaining about the treatment of diplomats, saying that the US diplomat had introduced himself and presented a pass to him. Even with the patrolman on top of him, the diplomat pushes with his feet and manages while on his back to get inside the door to the embassy, which is US territory and inviolate.

The United States said the diplomat, who was thought to be an intelligence officer under diplomatic cover and suffered a broken shoulder in the scrap, flashed a identification badge before he was assaulted.

Secretary of State John Kerry raised concerns about the incident, which took place on June 6 and was first reported by the Washington Post, in a phone call with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on June 7.

The U.S. has expelled two Russian officials after an American diplomat was attacked in Moscow last month. U.S. embassies and consulates also are typically protected by U.S. Marines and security contractors.

Russian-U.S. relations have deteriorated to a level not seen since the Cold War as the two powers find themselves on opposite sides of conflicts from Ukraine to Syria.

In January, the Obama administration revoked the credentials of five of six of Russia’s honorary consuls in the USA because of increased harassment, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said in June.