Russia summons US envoy over opposition protests

MOSCOW

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday summoned U.S. Consul Ambassador Tim Richardson to issue a diplomatic demarche over the U.S. Embassy's actions regarding protests in Moscow.

The diplomat was told that publishing information about the time, place, and a detailed schedule and route of the march on the embassy's website and social media was an interference in Russia's internal affairs.

"It was stressed that publishing of a detailed information of an illegal event, drafted by the (event's) organizers, we consider as campaigning for participation in it and a call to action, which is an attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of our country," the ministry said in a statement, published on its official website.

Russian opposition groups took to the streets on two consecutive weekends to protest against a government move to ban opposition candidates from entering the local parliamentary elections in September.

In a government crackdown against the protesters, nearly 2,000 protesters were arrested.