US Embassy Refuses to Comment on Status of Diplomats Deported From Russia

The US Embassy in Russia gives no comments on the status of its employees, the embassy's spokesman, William Stevens, said Saturday, after Moscow said that two US diplomats had to be deported from Russia.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said that two US diplomats had to leave Russia and were declared persona non grata for "activities incompatible with the diplomatic status."

Both US diplomats were CIA employees, Ryabkov said, adding that one of them was involved in a recent incident outside the US Embassy in Moscow.

"As is our standard practice, I will not discuss the status of any employee's serving overseas," Stevens told RIA Novosti.

On June 6, media reports claimed that a Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) guard stationed outside the US embassy in Moscow got into a physical altercation with an American diplomat who was allegedly attempting to enter the compound.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters last week that video of the incident actually shows the US diplomat attacking a Russian police officer.

Zakharova further noted that the US diplomat was a CIA agent who was returning from an intelligence operation that night.

On Friday, US Department of State spokesperson John Kirby said that US authorities have expelled two Russian officials from the United States after an alleged attack by a law enforcement officer on a US diplomat in Moscow.