Comment by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on the detention of several Russian citizens at the request of US authorities

We consider the detention of Russian citizens in Italy and Germany at the request of the US Department of Justice for their subsequent extradition to the United States a continuation of Washington’s large-scale campaign to capture Russians whom they have “allegations” against and to have them subsequently and definitely convicted by the US punitive justice system for long terms of imprisonment.

The cynicism of this situation is that it’s about taking hostages for further use for political purposes. This time again, the charges are being brought extraterritorially in connection with alleged violations of the US national sanctions legislation. Given that Washington is actually involved in the situation in Ukraine as a party to the conflict, this is another attempt to organise demonstrative reprisals in order to intimidate the business community in Russia and abroad.

Clearly, the US law enforcement agencies and intelligence services will continue to expand their efforts to track down Russian citizens. No doubt, these hostile actions will not remain unanswered.

The Russian Foreign Ministry once again calls on anyone who has even the slightest reason to believe that the United States might be “interested” in them to refrain from travelling to any foreign country that is unfriendly to Russia, or the countries with which Washington has signed bilateral extradition treaties.