According to Vershinin, the US authorities have for many years practiced “hunting for Russians around the world”, detaining them on trumped-up charges and then handing them over to US punitive justice. And then US courts eliminate long prison terms of ten years, the deputy noted.
Vershinin explained that this trend has intensified in the context of the Russophobia fostered by the Joe Biden administration. She stressed that the Americans are deliberately ignoring the 1999 Russian-American Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, preferring force to it.
“The total number of Russian citizens actually taken hostage exceeds 60 people,” Vershinin noted.
The Deputy Foreign Minister called on Russians traveling abroad to hostile countries to “weigh the risks” if there is any reason for suspicion and interest on the part of the special services.
“Natives of Russia in the United States have a presumption of guilt based on the principle ‘Russian means criminal,'” Vershinin stressed.
He added that the Russian embassy in Washington and the Russian consulates in Houston and New York will continue to provide assistance and support to Russians in trouble.
Earlier it was reported that businessman Viktor Bout, who was serving a sentence in one of the American prisons, returned home.
On December 8, 2022, at the Abu Dhabi airport, the procedure for the exchange of the Russian citizen Viktor Bout for the United States citizen Brittney Griner, who was serving a sentence in correctional institutions of the United States of America and the Federation, was successfully completed. Russian, respectively. .
