On Sunday, the Kremlin accused the U.S. embassy of interfering in Russia's domestic affairs after the mission distributed a "demonstration alert" to U.S. citizens in Russia recommending they avoid protests, as was reported by the Kommersant website.
Dmitry Peskov said that the statements published by the U.S. Embassy could be considered an indirect interference in Russian affairs. According to Dmitry Peskov, Washington should "try on" this situation in the context of recent rallies in the United States.
On January 22, ahead of the demonstrations, the U.S. embassy issued a safety warning to Americans based in Russia. They urged Americans to avoid places in different Russian cities where demonstrations in support of Alexei Navalny would take place. The diplomatic mission also published the routes and start times of the actions.
"Of course, these publications are inappropriate," President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a state TV channel. "And of course they constitute an indirect interference in our domestic affairs," he added.
He accused the U.S. embassy of "indirectly" supporting the violation of Russian legislation and backing "unauthorized protests". According to Peskov, if the Russian embassy in the United States issued similar information, "it would cause a certain feeling of discomfort in Washington".
A U.S. mission spokeswoman said U.S. embassies and consulates around the world routinely issue safety messages to U.S. citizens.
"This is a common, routine practice of many countries' diplomatic missions," she told AFP.
On Saturday, the U.S. embassy in Moscow said it was following the rallies, adding that Washington supported "the right of all people to peaceful protest, freedom of expression".
"Steps being taken by Russian authorities are suppressing those rights," embassy spokeswoman Rebecca Ross said on Twitter.
As "Apostrophe" reported earlier, over 2,000 people were detained during the actions in support of Navalny in Russia.