MOSCOW, December 14 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has criticized Washington for its reaction to Russian diplomats’ alleged law violations in the United States.
A total of 49 current or former Russian diplomats and their spouses stationed in New York City were charged earlier this month in the alleged defrauding of $1.5 million from a US government healthcare program. The diplomats are accused of reporting false information about their income between 2004 and August 2013 in order to receive free medical services.
“Foreign diplomats, including from America... regularly violate Russian laws,” Lavrov told the Rossiya 24 TV channel in a recent interview.
“We are not trying to make an information bomb out of it, but turn to embassies at once and try to resolve issues without any news announcements or inciting tensions,” he said.
Lavrov said Americans should have behaved the similar way in the current situation, but lamented that “they chose a different way.”
In the same interview, the Russian foreign minister admitted that most diplomats indicated by the US authorities had committed certain violations of US laws in 2004.
He expressed surprise at why the United States had waited since 2004 to accuse the Russian diplomats now.
“If diplomats are seen violating the norms of behavior and laws of their country of stay, why wait ten years?” Lavrov said. “They probably wanted to stockpile more cases so that the figure would be more considerable.”
Earlier a Russian deputy foreign minister told RIA Novosti that Moscow believes accusations of Russian diplomats an attempt by the US authorities to retaliate for some previous issues “not relating to bilateral Moscow-Washington relations.”
At least some of the Russian diplomats recently accused by the US authorities of fraudulently using American medical services to which they were not entitled did have the right to use them, Lavrov also said.
US prosecutors allege that during the period of the purported fraud scheme from 2004 to August 2013, the defendants falsely underreported their income or fraudulently claimed that their children were US citizens to obtain Medicaid benefits associated with costs for pregnancy, birth and young children.
