Russia Summons US Ambassador Over America's Election Meddling

Russia plans to hold parliamentary elections on 17-19 September, and invited observers from various countries, while the US State Department claimed that "credible independent observation is impossible".

US Ambassador in Russia John Sullivan arrived on Friday at the Russian Foreign Ministry after being summoned, a Sputnik correspondent reported. The ambassador declined to provide any comments to reporters. He stayed in the ministry for about 20 minutes and then left.

A diplomatic source later told Sputnik that Sullivan was summoned over American interference in the elections.

At the same time, the US embassy stated that the envoy visited the ministry to meet deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov and discuss president Biden's approach to stabilising relations between Moscow and Washington.

"On Friday, September 10, Ambassador Sullivan met with Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov to discuss a range of bilateral matters in support of President Biden's desire for a stable, predictable relationship with Russia", spokesman Jason Rebholz said.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also said that the reason was the US meddling.

"I read three versions of the summoning of the US ambassador to the Russian Foreign Ministry. After all, the foreign ministry summoned him, and the foreign ministry knows the real reason for that. There is only one reason — interference in the Russian elections. We hope that this will be reported by US diplomats to Washington. And not the way it is written in the press release from the US embassy, completely out of touch with reality", Zakharova said on Telegram.

Previously, Moscow suggested that Russia and the US may develop several legally and politically binding documents on strategic stability, as the two countries have sought to reach an agreement on the issue since the Geneva summit in June.

The summit was held to resolve pressing issues between the sides despite tense Russia-US ties.

President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden issued a joint statement stressing that both nations plan to launch a comprehensive bilateral dialogue on strategic stability and begin consultations on cybersecurity and arms control.