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The Embassy continues to provide Maria Butina, who was arrested under a far-fetched pretext, with necessary consular assistance. Our fellow citizen holds up strong, determined to continue proving her innocence.

US sanctions assembly line increases its production output. On August 8, 2018 our Deputy Chief of Mission was informed in the State Department of new “draconian” sanctions against Russia for far-fetched accusations of using the “Novichok” nerve agent against a UK citizen S.Skripal and his daughter by the “Russian Government”. We grew accustomed to not hearing any facts or evidence.

We took note of the tweet made by the U.S. State Department’s Spokesperson H.Nauert that the Russian Chargé d’affaires a.i. in Washington was summoned by Assistant Secretary of State W.Mitchell. Quoting Ms. Nauert, our diplomat was convoked “to answer for Russia’s aggressive interference” in U.S. domestic affairs.

On August 2, 2018 Russian Embassy’s employees visited our citizen Maria Butina, who was arrested by the U.S. authorities. She has already spent 19 days in prison under farfetched accusations.
Maria resiliently withstands all hardships and tries to adapt to them. She is in good health, although her requests for dental aid are being ignored.

On the Incident in Salisbury

After four and a half months since the Salisbury incident the investigation has not been concluded, and the London police and special services do not even have a list of suspects. First, it was confirmed by the UK National Security Adviser Sir Mark Sedwill in the Defence Committee of the British Parliament on May 1, 2018, then - on June 5, 2018 by Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the London Police Mr. Dean Haydon, who announced that "the investigation still follows a number of lines of inquiry".

The State Department comes up with new statements and declarations on a quarterly basis. We have not learned anything new. It is yet another proof that our partners live in a different dimension. They try to use international legal acts, which contain provisions on the right of people to self-determination that laid the foundation for Crimea’s return to Russia in 2014.

In our efforts we managed to secure a consular meeting with Maria Butina in DC jail. Despite the stress and psychological pressure, the Russian citizen suffered during her arrest, she feels well and in good health.
Maria is having a hard time adapting to prison conditions, as any normal person would. Nevertheless, she is in high spirits, confident in her innocence and stands ready to prove that fact in court.

The Russian Embassy in the United States has marked the end of the 2018 FIFA World Cup with a concert by Russian saxophone virtuoso Igor Butman and the Igor Butman Quintet.
Minister-Counselor of the Russian Embassy in the United States Dmitry Zhirnov congratulated representatives of the French Embassy on France’s win in the World Cup final and presented them with a special gift.
Butman, who was a World Cup ambassador for one of the host cities — Saransk, is currently on a world tour and could not attend the final match.

Reaction of the U.S. Department of State to possible legal restrictions of its interference in Russia’s domestic affairs is quite predictable. Hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars allocated to promote U.S. interests disguised as “liberal” values have to be spent somehow.