CIA "Diplomat" in Russia

The US has expelled two Russian diplomats over an incident at the American Embassy in Moscow in early June.  The story is just now being reported.

Let's see how the US portrayed the matter via Washington Post.

In the early morning of June 6, a uniformed Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) guard stationed outside the U.S. Embassy in Moscow attacked and beat up a U.S. diplomat who was trying to enter the compound, according to four U.S. officials who were briefed on the incident.

[...]

After being tackled by the FSB guard, the diplomat suffered a broken shoulder, among other injuries. He was eventually able to enter the embassy and was then flown out of Russia to receive urgent medical attention, administration officials confirmed to me. He remains outside of Russia.

[...]

The motive for the attack remains unclear. One U.S. official told me that the diplomat was seeking refuge in the embassy complex to avoid being detained by the Russian intelligence services. A different U.S. official told me the diplomat may have been working as a spy in Russia under what’s known as “diplomatic cover,” which means he was pretending to be a State Department employee.

  WaPo

Well, that's very honest.

Spokesmen for the both the State Department and the CIA declined to comment on the incident or whether or not the diplomat was in fact an undercover U.S. spy.

I'm sure.

Now let's see how the Russians portray the incident.

They say they were asked by the US government to keep mum, which they did until the Post ran the story on June 29.

“The American diplomat - or, more accurately, a CIA officer who worked under the embassy’s cover and was returning to the compound disguised after conducting an intelligence operation - attacked a police officer, who was carrying out his duty protecting the diplomatic mission,” Ryabkov explained.

“The video footage of the incident was shown on July 7 on NTV channel and speaks for itself – in the middle of the night a man wearing a knitted hat pulled low over his head, despite the fact it’s summer, jumps out of a taxi and rushes to the entrance of the embassy, without making any attempt to show his identity. When the guard rushes to intercept him in order to prevent a possible threat to the diplomatic mission, he hits the officer in the face with his elbow, which is, in fact, a criminal offense,” the official noted.

[...]

“On the 6th of June, an accredited US diplomat, who identified himself in accordance with embassy protocols, entering the American embassy compound was attacked by a Russian policeman.

The action was unprovoked and it endangered the safety of our employee [...] The Russian claim the policeman was protecting the embassy from an unidentified individual is simply untrue,” US State Department spokesman John Kirby said at a daily press briefing on Friday, apparently contradicting the CCTV evidence.

[...]

“We do hope that Washington will come to realize the depravity of an aggressive anti-Russian line of action. If it decides, however, to move further along the path of escalation, [such policy] will not remain unanswered,” Ryabkov warned.

  RT

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.