A Number Of Their Citizens Have Been Arrested, Russia Has Firmly Warned The United States: It Will Not Remain Silent

Spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova. (Source: Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation)

JAKARTA - Russia will not allow US law enforcement and secret services to hunt down Russian citizens, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in connection with the detention of a number of Russian citizens at Washington's request.

Zakharova stressed that Moscow considers the detention of Russian citizens in Italy and Germany at the request of the Department of Justice, then extradited to the United States as "a continuation of Washington's large-scale campaign, to arrest 'unintended' Russians, threatened a long prison sentence by the US sentencing justice system."

"It is clear that US law enforcement and secret services will only expand the hunt for Russian citizens. Such hostile actions, of course, will not be silenced without retaliation," Zakharova said, quoted by TASS 21 Ooctober.

"What makes this situation very cynical is that it is tantamount to taking further action for political purposes," Zakharova continued.

"The allegations were once again filed extraterritorially, in connection with alleged violations of US sanctions laws. Given Washington's real involvement in Ukraine as a party to the conflict, this is clearly another attempt to hold trials to intimidate business circles in Russia and abroad," he explained.

Zakharova called on "any person with the slightest reason to suspect certain 'interests' from the United States", to refrain from traveling abroad, to any country unfriendly to Russia, as well as countries that have bilateral agreements with Washington on extradition.

As previously reported, US authorities charged five Russian citizens and two Venezuelan oil traders with sanctions and money laundering avoidance. The New York District Attorney's Office accused them of "participating, in a scheme to illegally obtain US military technology and Venezuelan oil."

Among the defendants were Yury Orekhov and Artyom Uss, son of Krasnoyarsk Regional Governor Alexander Uss. The US Department of Justice said Orekhov and Uss were each detained on October 17 in Germany and Italy. If found guilty, they face up to 30 years in prison.