#Opinion
by Maria Zakharova http://bit.ly/2fsuOa3
FBI enlisted in the fight against Russia
I don’t understand what is going on in Washington: Moscow's hand is seen in everything, there’s talk of 'Kremlin hackers', leaks of secret information, and Russian diplomats are barred from approaching US polling stations. It has even come to outright intimidation of staff members of Russian diplomatic missions.
For instance, the Department of State sent a note recommending that Russian representatives 'not approach poling places on their own,' while authorities in some states went to even greater lengths and threatened criminal charges for doing so, making it impossible to even observe the voting process.
Then this past weekend, something unprecedented happened. Washington’s intelligence agencies got involved.
In the past few days, there have been cases of direct pressure on Russian officials in the United States from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, including the use of clear threats to drive home the point that we should not concern ourselves with the US election. In Houston, Texas, a scene out of a Hollywood action movie was staged to issue one such “warning”, with the car of a staff member of Russia's Consulate General in Houston blocked on the road. They stopped his car and told him not to even think about the election, let alone observe it. 'Why are you even thinking about our election?’ they said. These guys were clearly on the cutting edge, they had even learned how to think on command. And this was not the only case.
Our Embassy in Washington has reported this all to the State Department.
But a question arises: what might a foreign diplomat see at a US polling station to make these "Agent Smiths" spring into action, and why is the FBI involved in the election monitoring process at all?