[Sixstrings]

Russian FSB guard attacked U.S. diplomat outside Moscow embassy

In the early morning of June 6, a uniformed Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) guard stationed outside the U.S. Embassy in Moscow attacked and beat up a U.S. diplomat who was trying to enter the compound, according to four U.S. officials who were briefed on the incident.

This previously unreported attack occurred just steps from the entrance to the U.S. Embassy complex, which is located in the Presnensky District in Moscow’s city center. After being tackled by the FSB guard, the diplomat suffered a broken shoulder, among other injuries. He was eventually able to enter the embassy and was then flown out of Russia to receive urgent medical attention, administration officials confirmed to me. He remains outside of Russia.

The attack caused a diplomatic episode behind the scenes that has not surfaced until now. The State Department in Washington called in Russian Ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak to complain about the incident, an administration official said.

The motive for the attack remains unclear. One U.S. official told me that the diplomat was seeking refuge in the embassy complex to avoid being detained by the Russian intelligence services. A different U.S. official told me the diplomat may have been working as a spy in Russia under what’s known as “diplomatic cover,” which means he was pretending to be a State Department employee. ...

As I reported this week, Russian harassment of U.S. diplomats in Russia and several other European countries has increased significantly since U.S. sanctions were levied on Russian officials and President Vladi­mir Putin’s associates in 2014.

On Tuesday, the Russian foreign ministry’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, responded directly to my column at a press conference and on Twitter and accused the U.S. government of deliberately undermining bilateral ties.

“Diplomacy is based on reciprocity. The more the US damages relations, the harder it will be for US diplomats to work in Russia,” she said.

Either way, the fact that the FSB is willing to attack a U.S. diplomat and beat him up right in front of the American Embassy reflects that the Russian security services are becoming increasingly brash, said Evelyn Farkas, who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia for the Obama administration.

“If this is true, it’s another example of the Russian security services demonstrating a willingness to break taboos,” she said. “The fact that they are using these brutal tactics against foreigners is taking things to a whole other level.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/russian-fsb-guard-attacks-us-diplomat-outside-moscow-embassy/2016/06/28/2c42c98c-3d7f-11e6-a66f-aa6c1883b6b1_story.html#comments

[GregT]

There is nothing diplomatic about US foreign policy. Yankee go home.

[Cid_Yama]

Whaaaaaaaa! The Russians are beating up one of our intelligence officers pretending to be a diplomat who almost got back to the embassy before they caught him.

The CIA using the State Department as cover just makes it difficult for the State Department to do it's job.

In times of old they would have dragged him back to Lubyanka and done unspeakable tortures on him. A beating to send a message is nothing.

[Cog]

The CIA will find a way to send a message to the FSB concerning the matter.

[Sixstrings]

Whaaaaaaaa! The Russians are beating up one of our intelligence officers pretending to be a diplomat who almost got back to the embassy before they caught him.

The CIA using the State Department as cover just makes it difficult for the State Department to do it's job.

Well first of all.. what diplomat is NOT a "spy?" This is common on all sides, all around, that diplomats are also spies.

But over here, the FBI are professional law enforcement and they're not just thugs that just go beat up and attack someone they think is a "spy."

There's no excuse / it's not acceptable, to have attacked this diplomat -- breaking his shoulder too -- right on the steps of the embassy. Can you imagine the howls from Russia, if the US had done this?

Secondly, it's not even certain whether he was a "spy" or not.

"Spy" can be a loose term sometimes.. to Russia, it could just be someone talking to people about democracy and human rights.

So we don't know the story here..

According to the article, here's what the Russian govt spokeswoman SAID:

“Diplomacy is based on reciprocity. The more the US damages relations, the harder it will be for US diplomats to work in Russia,” she said.

So what's she saying there? She didn't accuse him of being a spy.

It's pretty much just "if you don't play ball with us America, if you damage our relations, then yeah your diplomats are going to 'find it harder to work in Russia.'"

[Sixstrings]

The CIA will find a way to send a message to the FSB concerning the matter.

It looks like there's starting to be some response to Russia's provocations.

After all the buzzing and flybys and close encounters with the Navy, a US Navy destroyer recently cut across the bow of a Russian frigate:

US officials: Russia ignored 'rules of the road' sailing dangerously close to Navy destroyer

One day after Russia accused a U.S. Navy destroyer of sailing dangerously close to a Russian Navy frigate in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, two U.S. defense officials briefed on the incident told Fox News the Russian Navy was responsible, blatantly ignoring longstanding “rules of the road” on the high seas.

“These actions have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between [Russia and the U.S.], and could result in a miscalculation or accident which results in serious injury or death,” one official warned.

The June 17 incident between USS Gravely, a U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke class destroyer and Russian frigate Neustrashimyy unfolded near the USS Harry S. Truman, an American aircraft carrier launching airstrikes at the time against the Islamic State terror group, according to the two officials.

“Russian Federation Ship (RFS) Neustrashimyy (FF 777) conducted unsafe and unprofessional maritime operations,” one official told Fox News.

Russia released a video of the incident through its state-run media yesterday which appears to have been filmed from the bridge of the Russian Navy frigate showing the U.S. and Russian ships maneuvering in close proximity.

While the Russian defense ministry claims the U.S. destroyer sailed close to its vessel, the video appeared to show that it was the Russian ship maneuvering to close the distance with the American warship.

The U.S. Navy destroyer was positioned roughly five miles away from the USS Harry S. Truman to protect the carrier from Russian ships. The Russians recently had made a habit of trying to get close to the battle group, the officials said.

The incident was the latest in a string of “highly provocative” actions from Russia to try intimidating the United States, according to the officials.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/06/29/us-officials-russia-ignored-rules-road-sailing-dangerously-close-to-navy-destroyer.html

What happened with this thing is that it was first the Russian frigate that was cutting into the US Navy battlegroup. Then one of our destroyers cuts in ahead of them, and now Russia is protesting.

Mediterranean Sea: US destroyer comes dangerously close to Russian warship in Med
https://youtu.be/lqF6EcShwP0

[Sixstrings]

US accuses Russia of harassing diplomats

Washington has delivered high-level complaints to Moscow about accusations of increasing intimidation of American diplomats in Russia, the State Department said on Monday. ...

Trudeau said that harassment of diplomats by Russian security agents and traffic police had been an issue over the past two years but did not detail any incidents nor why Kerry brought up the matter with Putin.

Other Western embassies had reported the same behavior toward their diplomats stationed in Moscow, Trudeau added.

Trudeau would not discuss specific incidents first reported by The Washington Post on Monday, including breaking into the homes of embassy personnel and moving around contents.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/27/politics/us-accuses-russia-of-harassing-diplomats/

Russia Harassing U.S. Diplomats all over Europe

Russian intelligence and security services have been waging a campaign of harassment and intimidation against U.S. diplomats, embassy staff and their families in Moscow and several other European capitals that has rattled ambassadors and prompted Secretary of State John Kerry to ask Vladimir Putin to put a stop to it.

But many of the recent acts of intimidation by Russian security services have crossed the line into apparent criminality. In a series of secret memos sent back to Washington, described to me by several current and former U.S. officials who have written or read them, diplomats reported that Russian intruders had broken into their homes late at night, only to rearrange the furniture or turn on all the lights and televisions, and then leave. One diplomat reported that an intruder had defecated on his living room carpet.

In Moscow, where the harassment is most pervasive, diplomats reported slashed tires and regular harassment by traffic police. Former ambassador Michael McFaul was hounded by government-paid protesters, and intelligence personnel followed his children to school. The harassment is not new; in the first term of the Obama administration, Russian intelligence personnel broke into the house of the U.S. defense attache in Moscow and killed his dog, according to multiple former officials who read the intelligence reports.
http://english.aawsat.com/2016/06/article55353595/russia-harassing-u-s-diplomats-europe

That's pretty bad, if that's true -- sounds like generalized mafia style harassment. Breaking into embassy staff's homes, just to intimidate. Re-arranging furniture, turning the tv on.

Then it escalates to following their children. Then slashing their car tires. According to that above article, it says Russian intel broke into a US defense attache's home, and killed his dog.

According to the article, Russian intel "defecated" on the carpet of one embassy staff.

This issue has been going on for a long time, I remember there was a story about a Dutch diplomat that had men knock on the door saying they were "plumbers" and then they hogtied him and left a warning on the mirror, written in lipstick. It's crazyness. Not even North Korea or Iran does this stuff.

Apparently, Obama made the decision a while back not to take any retaliatory measures:

“It was part of a way to put pressure on government officials who were trying to do their reporting jobs. It definitely escalated when I was there. After the invasion of Ukraine, it got much, much worse,” McFaul said. “We were feeling embattled out there in the embassy.”

There was a debate inside the Obama administration about how to respond, and ultimately President Barack Obama made the decision not to respond with similar measures against Russian diplomats, McFaul said.

Which was the right decision, that's how the US operates. We're not some backwater place that wants to get WWIII started up over attacks on individual personnel. US is as tolerant as it can most possibly be, including the flybys and buzzing of the Navy.

And Europe has been as tolerant as it can be, and the Baltics and Sweden are tolerant, about Russian subs in the harbor and some border incidents with Russian FSB / forces coming across the border and they kidnapped that Estonian border cop.

Western democracies are tolerant, up to a certain point.

Something like the Navy -- they have to start responding at a certain point, because they know what they're dealing with and it's an escalation game and they can't just let russian frigates and MIGs buzz in and out and all around the US Navy battlegroups.

So, they may start responding a little bit.. buzz them back.. cut in front of their bow too, forcing them away from the group.

One thing about it -- our state department personnel, around the world, have a tough job and take a lot of abuse and sacrifice for their country. That Moscow appointment is tough. I don't think there's anywhere else in the world where US embassy staff are so much harassed.

EDIT: or, does this issue matter? If Republicans care so much about Benghazi, what about the safety of US embassy staff in Moscow?

There's been a years-long pattern of slashed tires, home breakin-ins, harassment.. US allied diplomats more seriously harassed.. but now we've got a US diplomat that had his shoulder broken, on the steps of the embassy, by Russian intel.

I guess I have to change my opinion about Obama, they're actually leaving this Moscow embassy hang out to dry too much.

Tolerance vs. escalation must be balanced, yes, but you can't just leave our people hanging out to dry like that either.

Here's what they ought to do -- if the harassment continues, first step should be recalling any embassy staff that has family and children there. So only single people. It's too risky for families to be there, if Putin is going to keep screwing with the embassy.

And then, DEPORT / revoke credentials of all Russian diplomatic staff over here, that is over here with wives and children.

Secondly -- if Russian government is going to beat our staff up on the steps of the embassy, then the US should go ahead and revoke credentials / deport some Russian embassy staff that are over here.

And lastly -- there should be some measures taken to increase security for embassy staff. (which is difficult to do in a host country that isn't being friendly.. security is the host country's responsibility, so in a situation like Russia the US can't have guards of its own, outside the embassy.)

If it gets bad enough -- close the Russian embassy here, and close our embassy in Moscow.

Which the Russians WOULD NOT want, of course. Their embassy here is valuable to them, and if the Obama admin threatened that then Putin would probably stop this harassment.

[Sixstrings]

Some more news about this, from the Kremlin side.

Russian government claims its guards at the US embassy are just police, not FSB. Russia says the diplomat was a CIA agent returning from an intel op. Russia says the diplomat didn't identify himself and brushed the guard with his elbow, trying to get back into the embassy.

Russia says any claim of a broken shoulder is "fantasy."

There was an altercation between the diplomat and the guard, and the diplomat got back inside the embassy (US government says, with a broken shoulder).

Russia Says U.S. Diplomat In Moscow Altercation A Spy

Russia's Foreign Ministry says a U.S. diplomat who was involved in an altercation with a Russian guard outside the Moscow Embassy was a spy returning from an unspecified intelligence operation. ...

The guard who was said to have tackled the man was part of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) division that both guards and monitors the embassy. That led to speculation that the American had been specifically targeted as an intelligence officer, a question raised by The Washington Post, which first reported on the incident.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on June 30 that the guard attempted to stop the man to check his identity, but the man struck the guard in the face with his elbow before running into the embassy.

"In the tussle that followed, the unknown man shoved away the guard employee and disappeared into the embassy," she said.

"It's well-known that this very diplomat was in fact an agent of the CIA. He was returning, in disguise, after conducting an intelligence operation the previous night," Zakharova said.

She called the report that the man suffered a broken shoulder "in the realm of fantasy" and described the guard as a member of the Russian police.

"The Americans should be saying thank you to the sentry who was diligently fulfilling his duties," she said.
http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-us-diplomat-moscow-altercation-cia-spy/27831243.html

[JuanP]

CIA agent attacks US embassy guard in Moscow.
https://www.rt.com/news/349058-cia-us-embassy-moscow/
I think Russia should expell all US citizens from its territory including all the Americans at the embassy. They should also immediately close all American NGOs operating in Russia. And, last but not least, they should close their embassy in DC. The USA is a terrorist nation and the most criminal, violent, agressive, and abusive country on Earth. Yankees go home! Obama must go! Anyone but Hillary!

[AgentR11]

The truth is both side are harassing the crud out of each other's embassy staff, AND both sides are using, or attempting to use, diplomatic cover for intelligence operations.

But I think we're both kinda of out of practice, and so what once was smooth and deadly "James Bond" stuff ends up more like a skit from Monty Python. Kinda funny, and kinda embarrassing at the same time.

[dissident]

The truth is both side are harassing the crud out of each other's embassy staff, AND both sides are using, or attempting to use, diplomatic cover for intelligence operations.

But I think we're both kinda of out of practice, and so what once was smooth and deadly "James Bond" stuff ends up more like a skit from Monty Python. Kinda funny, and kinda embarrassing at the same time.

The Russian guard should have retaliated with lethal force against this CIA f*ck even if his feet were on US embassy grounds. Poor little America, big bad Russia is hurting its spies.

Interesting behaviour from this CIA f*ck. His mission must have gone south. Good.

[Cog]

Disappearing a few FSB agents or beating them within in inch of their lives will send the right message.

[radon1]

This "CIA agent" probably got deadly drunk in a Moscow pub, struggled at the door trying to figure how to get out and got his shoulder injured in the process, then somehow managed to pick up a taxi and dropped out at the embassy. Then he made up a story about the fight at the gates.

And now we have the news.

[Cog]

Lot of America hate in this thread. Nothing new really.

[Cid_Yama]

Whaaaaaaaa! The Russians are beating up one of our intelligence officers pretending to be a diplomat who almost got back to the embassy before they caught him.

The CIA using the State Department as cover just makes it difficult for the State Department to do it's job.

According to the article, here's what the Russian govt spokeswoman SAID:

“Diplomacy is based on reciprocity. The more the US damages relations, the harder it will be for US diplomats to work in Russia,” she said.

So what's she saying there?'"

Just exactly what I said. No, State Department staff are not spies. They report what they see and hear, of course, but in the course of normal daily life. (Yes, they live a normal daily life where they currently live outside of business hours. The Embassy is not a fortress. They live among the Russians, having daily discourse. They are their friends and neighbors.)

The CIA is another matter. They make the diplomats job more difficult because they make it look like everyone in the embassy is a spy.

The State Department has a quite different role that is essential. The intelligence community just makes that job that much more difficult.

[Cog]

Cid is a typical ex-State employee. An apologist for everything Russian. No wonder the entire State department was infiltrated by Communists.

[Cid_Yama]

Back in the USSR

Lighten up Cog. When you're wrong you're wrong. I've had two Soviet girlfriends. One that taught me drinking Pertsovka warm out of the bottle, the other, an Armenian that could have been a model from Penthouse.

The Russians are people just like us. Actually more like Canadians than us.

You're suffering fear from ignorance. Or just your normal hatred from ignorance.

(Historical point of interest: Pertsovka was Stalin's drink of choice.)

[radon1]

Lot of America hate in this thread. Nothing new really.

Wrong. Just regular Putin's worship service.

[dissident]

Lot of America hate in this thread. Nothing new really.

Wrong. Just regular Putin's worship service.

You clearly suffer from Putin derangement syndrome. In your broken record mind, throwing US hate propaganda back at it is Putin worship and an unpardonable sin. It is Uncle Scam and his self-anointed "manifest right" to "rule the world" that is the real unpardonable sin.

The OP of this thread presented a specimen of 1984 style state lies originating from the USA. Naturally, the truth had no similarity to these lies. But you try to make this about Putin. Sod off.

[Cog]

Case in point^^^^^^^^^^^^^