Russia declares 2 US diplomats persona non grata

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia announced on Thursday that two US diplomats were declared persona non grata because of activities said to “contradict the status of diplomats."

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it summoned US Ambassador Lynne Trace and conveyed to her strong protests regarding "the incompatibility with the diplomatic status of the actions of the first secretary of the US Embassy, Jeffrey Sillin, and the second secretary of the Embassy, David Bernstein."

"These persons conducted illegal activities, maintaining contact with Russian citizen Robert Shonov, accused of 'confidential cooperation' with a foreign state,” it added.

"Shonov was given tasks for material remuneration with the aim of harming the national security of the Russian Federation. The US Ambassador was told that Jeffrey Sillin and David Bernstein must leave the territory of Russia within seven days," it said.

The ministry also said that "illegal activity of the US diplomatic mission, including interference in the internal affairs of the host country, is unacceptable and will be resolutely suppressed."

"The Russian side expects Washington to draw the right conclusions and refrain from confrontational steps," it stressed.

In late August, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it wanted to question two US diplomats, Sillin and Bernstein, about their allegedly trying to get Rostov to gather intelligence on the Ukraine war.

Rostov was formerly employed by the US Consulate in Vladivostok in the Russian Far East.

At the time, the US denied the allegation, with State Department spokesman Matt Miller calling them “wholly without merit” and part of an effort “to intimidate and harass our employees.”