Russia summons US envoy over 'interference' in internal affairs

MOSCOW

Russia summoned the U.S. Ambassador on Thursday and threatened to expel American diplomats in protest against what it said was American interference in Moscow's domestic affairs.

Moscow said Washington was funding "anti-Russian" non-profit groups and "spreading disinformation" around this month's Russian presidential elections and its offensive against Ukraine.

"Attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of the Russian Federation, including through subversive actions and the spreading of disinformation in the context of elections and the special military operation will be firmly and decisively suppressed," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

It said retaliatory measures could include expelling "U.S. embassy officials involved in such actions."

Both Russia and the United States have expelled dozens of each other's diplomats in recent years as relations between the two countries have sunk to their lowest in decades.

Russia's foreign ministry said Thursday it had told U.S. envoy Lynne Tracy that Washington must stop funding three non-profit education groups that were advancing "attitudes and values alien to Russian society."

It named the groups as the American Councils for International Education, Cultural Vistas and the Institute of International Education.

Moscow sees Western-backed NGOs and civil society groups as hostile and anti-Kremlin, regularly accusing them of training would-be revolutionaries — claims rejected by the West and the groups themselves.

It has designated several "undesirable" — a status that makes it illegal for Russian citizens to work with them.

President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly accused the United States of seeking to interfere in Russia's domestic affairs.

Those claims escalated after Washington exposed Russian efforts to interfere in the U.S. 2016 presidential election.