Moscow: Russia expelled a US diplomat on Tuesday after saying he had been caught red-handed with disguises, special equipment and wads of cash as he tried to recruit a Russian intelligence agent to work for the CIA. Apparently detained in an incongruous-looking blond wig, with props reminiscent of a schoolboy's spy kit, US Embassy Third Secretary Ryan Fogle hardly looked like a Cold War secret agent.
But the announcement still came at an awkward time for Washington and Moscow as they try to improve relations and bring the warring sides in Syria together for an international peace conference. Nevertheless, there was little sign that either country wanted to escalate the affair beyond a minimum response.
The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned US Ambassador Michael McFaul to discuss the case on Wednesday and released a statement ordering Fogle to leave Russia. "Such provocative actions in the spirit of the Cold War will by no means promote the strengthening of mutual trust," it said.
In Washington, US State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell suggested the episode was unlikely to affect broader US-Russian relations or plans for the Syria conference....
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02:46 AM, May 15, 2013
Washington: Observing that Pakistanis are very much in favor of enhanced economic relationship with India, a top American diplomat stationed in Islamabad has said the country is on the cusp of granting the most favored nation status to its eastern neighbour. "I think that there's been progress in the relationship between Pakistan and India, and as you know, we're on the cusp of Pakistan granting most favored nation status to...
12:27 PM, Mar 26, 2013
Cairo: Al-Qaeda's branch in North Africa is calling for attacks on US diplomats and an escalation of protests against an anti-Islam video that triggered a wave of demonstrations in Muslim countries. In a statement released on Tuesday, Al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb praised the killing of Christopher Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya, in an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi on September 11. The group...
04:26 PM, Sep 18, 2012
New Delhi: India should have sent its troops back to Sri Lanka to kill or capture Prabhakaran and the LTTE leadership after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, says a new book by a former US diplomat. Rajiv Gandhi's killing was an attack on India's status as a regional power. Forcibly bringing Prabhakaran to India to face trial would have sent a clear message to the region, and the world, that...
11:37 AM, Apr 03, 2012
Islamabad: An American national, working with the US Embassy was briefly detained at the airport in Peshawar city of northwest Pakistan on Tuesday after security officials found 13 bullets in his luggage. The American was set to fly from Peshawar to Islamabad when he was detained. He was questioned before being handed over to officials of the US Consulate, police officials said. Official sources said the detained American was a...
04:57 PM, Feb 14, 2012
Islamabad: The United States and Pakistan are working to smooth over travel curbs which Islamabad has imposed on US diplomats, a senior US official said on Tuesday, the latest strain in ties that have worsened since the killing of Osama bin Laden. Pakistan says it has introduced the restrictions on US diplomats' movements around the country as a security measure but US officials say they smack of harassment. "The government...
02:34 AM, Aug 03, 2011
Islamabad: Pakistan government is exploring a possible "blood money deal" between American official Raymond Davis, arrested for double murder in Lahore, and relatives of the victims for ending the tense standoff with the US. Finding itself on a sticky wicket on the issue of freeing 37-year-old Davis, the government is looking at a face-saving option under which the relatives of the two men killed by the American agree to withdraw...
03:08 PM, Feb 18, 2011
Washington: The White House has said that US is currently focused on getting its diplomat Raymond Davis released from Pakistan, notwithstanding the setback it received at the hands of Pakistani courts. Davis, who held US diplomatic passport, is currently under arrest in Pakistan on charges of murder of two Pakistani nationals. "The United States on Pakistan is focused on ensuring that the diplomatic status of Mr Davis is honored and...
07:41 AM, Feb 18, 2011
New Delhi: HRD Minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday termed as "disturbing" the comments of a US diplomat calling ankle monitors tagged on some Indian students in California as "very hip and happening." "Comments of the US official (on ankle monitors tagged on some Indian students) are disturbing...," Sibal told reporters on the sidelines of an Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) function here. Juliet Wurr, Public Affairs Officer at the...
05:34 PM, Feb 02, 2011
At least four missiles were fired by the drone in an area near Angoor Adda. ...
09:17 PM, Sep 17, 2008
Lynne Tracy came under direct fire while she was on her way to office. ...
01:38 PM, Aug 26, 2008
A blast went off at a rally promoting autonomy for Baluchistan. ...
11:28 AM, Aug 26, 2008
America lodges formal diplomatic protest after "hundreds of pieces of debris” fall out in space. ...
08:08 PM, Jan 19, 2007
