On Thursday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced the expulsion of two senior U.S. Embassy personnel, Jeff Sillin and David Bernstein, based on allegations of their collaboration with a Russian individual previously accused of espionage by Moscow.
The Foreign Ministry issued a statement indicating that it had called upon U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy to deliver the news. They asserted that Sillin and Bernstein had engaged in “unlawful activities” by maintaining contact with a Russian citizen, Robert Shonov, and consequently, they were given a seven-day notice to depart from Russian territory.
It’s worth noting that Robert Shonov had been employed as a local staff member at the U.S. consulate in Vladivostok for over 25 years before Russia mandated the termination of local staff members associated with U.S. missions in 2021.
The situation escalated further when Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested Shonov in May, accusing him of clandestine cooperation with a foreign nation. The FSB alleged that Shonov had transmitted sensitive information to the United States concerning Russia’s involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.