US and Canadian ambassadors protested over statements in support of Kara-Murza

US Ambassador to Russia Lynn Tracy was strongly protested in connection with statements in support of opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza (included in the register of foreign agents) after he was sentenced. About it reported at the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“The head of the American diplomatic mission, summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on April 18, was strongly protested in connection with provocative statements in support of V. Kara-Murza, convicted of treason and disseminating deliberately false information about the Russian army,” the statement said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry called such statements interference in the internal affairs of Russia by the United States. The department also recalled that any attempts to incite hostility in Russian society would be suppressed, and diplomatic mission employees who contributed to this would be expelled from the country. The Foreign Ministry also called the attempts to “shield the ‘agent of influence’ supervised by Washington and other Western capitals” as ridiculous and hypocritical.

A similar demarche was declared Canadian Ambassador to Russia Alison LeClair. The Foreign Ministry warned of a deterioration in bilateral relations between Moscow and Ottawa if Canada continues to interfere in the internal affairs of Russia and take “actions accompanied by a frenzied Russophobic campaign launched by official Ottawa, as well as the announcement of the strategic goal of Canadian foreign policy is “regime change in Russia”.”

The day before, April 17, Moscow City Court sentenced Kara-Murza to 25 years in prison for treason, discrediting the army and participation in the activities of an undesirable organization, as well as to restriction of freedom for a period of six months and a fine of 400,000 rubles. He was also banned from journalism for 7 years after his release from prison.

April 17 Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova statedthat the Russian authorities will stop the actions of representatives of the Western countries, which are aimed at inciting hostility in Russian society, and the diplomats involved in this work may be expelled from Russia.

In April 2022, Kara-Murza was detained on suspicion of disseminating deliberately false information about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (under clause “e”, part 2, article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to investigators, Kara-Murza, during his speech in the Arizona parliament, spread fakes about the Russian army. Kara-Murza himself did not admit his guilt. At the end of April, he was arrested, at the same time the Ministry of Justice assigned him the status of an individual – a foreign agent. In July last year, a case was also opened against him for participation in the activities of an undesirable organization (part 1 of article 284.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In October, it became known that a treason case was opened against Kara-Murza (Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).