Russian diplomacy reveals Washington’s attempts to recruit Russian diplomats

New York (ST) – Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Maria Zabolotskaya, revealed that US intelligence is trying to recruit Russian diplomates to the UN.

Zabolotskaya pointed out at a meeting of the Committee on Relations with the Host Country at the UN that: “The updated information that we have received makes it clear that the US continues to implement a whole set of measures and restrictions towards our permanent mission and its members, which are aimed at reducing the effectiveness of our interaction with the UN and putting psychological pressure on Russian diplomats.”

“There is no other way to explain the increasingly intrusive recruitment approaches of the host country’s intelligence services, whose officers come up to the mission members on the street, at the airport, and in various regions in New York”.

She noted that the US is not only acting in violation of the UN Headquarters Agreement, but also Article 25 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, which stipulates that the host country must provide all capabilities for the mission to perform its function.

“Moreover, they use contextual ads on social media, search engines, including Yahoo, and on video hosting platforms in order to call for cooperation with the FBI. Propaganda leaflets of similar content are regularly put up outside the permanent mission’s building and its residential compound, as well as along our diplomats’ way to work”, Zabolotskaya added.

Najla Khoury