UNITED NATIONS – The United States has taken aim at Russians working at the United Nations, levelling accusations of espionage for the second day running yesterday, in a Cold War-like twist as tensions soar over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The American mission to the UN said Tuesday that Washington asked the UN to expel an employee allegedly working as a “Russian intelligence operative”.
Coming the day after the US said it is expelling 12 diplomats from Russia’s UN mission for “espionage”, the request plunged the global body’s headquarters on New York’s East River – a place already described by diplomats as a “nest of spies” – into a climate of deep suspicion.
The US “initiated the process to require the departure of one Russian intelligence operative working at the United Nations who has abused their privileges of residence in the United States”, a US spokesman said.
When asked if there was any link with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the spokesman said that the request, like the expulsion of the 12 diplomats, had been in the works for “months”.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric confirmed the request and said the employee was a “staff member in the secretariat” – but would not indicate whether they worked in UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ Manhattan offices.
The employee’s contract expired on March 14, he added – making the request “a little difficult to understand”.
But “in deference to the privacy of the individual concerned and the sensitivity of the matter, I will not comment further”, Dujarric said.
The Russian mission said it was a matter between the UN and the employee in question. – AFP, March 2, 2022
