Posted on 12/16/2024 3:57:16 AM PST by EBH
Summary Russia says avoid US, Canada, EU countries Russia says US hunting down Russians Kremlin: Biden is dialling up tensions ahead of Trump
MOSCOW, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday that relations with Washington were so confrontational that Russian citizens should not visit the United States, Canada and some EU countries in coming weeks because they risked being "hunted" down by U.S. authorities. Russian and U.S. diplomats say the relationship is worse than at any time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when the two Cold War superpowers came closest to intentional nuclear war, due to a confrontation over the Ukraine war.
"In the context of the increasing confrontation in Russian-American relations, which are teetering on the verge of rupture due to the fault of Washington, trips to the United States of America privately or out of official necessity are fraught with serious risks," Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, told a news briefing.
"We urge you to continue to refrain from trips to the United States of America and its allied satellite states, including, first of all, Canada and, with a few exceptions, European Union countries, during these holidays," she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
In not at all related news, Putin is angry that 900,000 Russians have fled Russia since he invaded Ukraine again in 2022, particularly hitting university-educated residents hard and threatening the future of the Russian economy.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_emigration_during_the_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine
Yeah, we might kidnap hapless Roooski tourists, to hold them as hostages. For spy exchanges.
WHAT?
This is what Putin/Russia actually do. Dittos for Iran and the CCP
Al Reuters and the rest of the Global MSM want to keep the USA and Russia always fighting.
Its time to stop...look around and find the puppet masters who are behind this.
It took a long time to unveil the Deep State in the USA.
Its long since time we look at who is really pulling their strings.
After the absolutely unjust detention, conviction, and torture of Maria Butina for paperwork violations, it became obvious that anything is possible for the US DOJ. Russians do need to be careful.
...and to this day, I have yet to hear of a single problem that Americans have had in visiting Russia, other than those are spying, of course. The Russian people, probably due to their much freer press, seem to know that the problem is with the Leftists that control Western Media and thus have brainwashed Westerners with their twisted version of reality.
Anyway, it all ends Jan 20th!
I don’t think that Russia citizens have any more to fear from coming here than anyone else in America. Just avoid liberal run cities like most normal people do...
Who are some of the known prisoners?
EVAN GERSHKOVICH — The 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter who was convicted Friday was detained on a reporting trip in March 2023 in the city of Yekaterinburg. Russia alleges Gershkovich was “gathering secret information” at the CIA’s behest about a facility that produces and repairs military equipment. It provided no evidence to support the accusations. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny the charges.
PAUL WHELAN — The 54-year-old corporate security executive from Michigan was arrested in 2018 in Moscow, where he was attending a friend’s wedding, convicted two years later of espionage, and sentenced to 16 years in prison. He maintains his innocence, saying the charges were fabricated.
TRAVIS LEAKE — The musician was convicted on drug charges Thursday and sentenced to 13 years in prison. An Instagram page describes him as the singer for the band Lovi Noch (Seize the Night). Court officials have said he is a former paratrooper.
MARC FOGEL — The teacher was sentenced to 14 years in prison, also on drug charges. The Interfax news agency said Fogel taught at the Anglo-American School in Moscow and had worked at the U.S. Embassy. Interfax cited court officials as saying Fogel has admitted guilt.
GORDON BLACK — The 34-year-old staff sergeant stationed at Fort Cavazos, Texas, was convicted in June in Vladivostok of stealing and making threats against his girlfriend, and was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. He had flown to Russia from his U.S. military post in South Korea without authorization and was arrested in May after she accused him of stealing from her, according to U.S. and Russian authorities.
ROBERT WOODLAND — Woodland, a dual national, was convicted of drug trafficking earlier this month and sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison. Russian media reported his name matches a U.S. citizen interviewed in 2020 who said he was born in the Perm region in 1991 and adopted by an American couple at age 2. He said he traveled to Russia to find his mother and eventually met her on a TV show.
ALSU KURMASHEVA — Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian national, was arrested in 2023 in her hometown of Kazan. The Prague-based editor for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tatar-Bashkir service was visiting her ailing mother. She faces multiple charges, including not self-reporting as a “foreign agent” and spreading false information about the Russian military. The Committee to Protect Journalists called the accusations “spurious.”
KSENIA KHAVANA — Khavana, 33, was arrested in Yekaterinburg in February on treason charges, accused of collecting money for Ukraine’s military. Independent Russian news outlet Mediazona identified her by her maiden name of Karelina, and said she had U.S. citizenship after marrying an American. She returned to Russia from Los Angeles to visit family. The rights group The First Department said the charges stem from a $51 donation to a U.S. charity that helps Ukraine.
DAVID BARNES — An engineer from Texas, Barnes was arrested while visiting his sons in Russia, where their mother had taken them. His supporters say the woman made baseless claims of sexual abuse that already had been discredited by Texas investigators but he was convicted in Russia anyway and sentenced to 21 years in prison.
ROBERT GILMAN — Identified in the media as a former U.S. Marine, Gilman was arrested in 2022 for allegedly assaulting a police officer, convicted and sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison. The sentence was reduced to 3 1/2 years on appeal. This year, Gilman is facing new charges of disrupting the work of a penitentiary facility and assaulting an investigator. He reportedly admitted guilt.
EUGENE SPECTOR — A Russian-born U.S. citizen in prison on a bribery conviction, Spector in 2023 faced new charges of espionage, although details of the accusations are unclear. Spector, a former executive at a medical equipment company in Russia, was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison in 2022 for allegedly enabling bribes to an aide to former Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.
The U.S. successfully negotiated swaps in 2022 for WNBA star Brittney Griner and Marine veteran Trevor Reed — both designated as wrongfully detained.
Sorry, should have added to druggies to spies.
If the best you can do is 13 Americans over 6 years, including BRITTNEY GRINER, LOL, I’d say you’ve likely identified the SAFEST country in the world, as I strongly suspect that more Americans are arrested in Japan in one week than you’ve identified here.
Always tap dancing aren’t you Bobbitt?
This is good. My experience with Russians is that they’re all involved in some kind of scam or hustle. It used to be phone cards. Now, it’s returning fake or stolen gift cards and credit card fraud.
The Russians in my neighborhood also sell a lot of dope.
“After the absolutely unjust detention, conviction, and torture of Maria Butina for paperwork violations, it became obvious that anything is possible for the US DOJ. Russians do need to be careful.”
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Nonsense. Butina was a spy who should be in a US prison now. Instead, she was expelled and returned to Russia a hero who is now a member of the Duma as her reward for service to the Motherland.
This is false. Ms. Butina was never accused or charged with any offense related to espionage. She plead guilty (under duress, according to her account) of a single FARA violation (essentially, failure to register as working on behalf of a foreign nation). This statute is not related to spying at all. In most cases when people run afoul of FARA, they are yelled at and allowed to register after the fact (the exceptions being of course if a person is connected to Trump, or is Russian).
While she was in federal prison, Ms. Butina was regularly kept in solitary confinement, denied medical care, and denied access to menstrual products. My original assertion stands. She was essentially tortured for a paperwork violation.
You would be shocked. Well... maybe you wouldn't but I think your disbelief would rule over you at first. It's hard to believe because it is so obvious and is well documented in historical references of all kinds.
I'll first give you three guesses. Smart man(or woman) like you will probably hit the target with three tries.
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