Former US official barred from Russia
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A former senior Justice Department official at the American Embassy here was declared “persona non grata” and barred from Russia this month, possibly because he had rebuffed an effort by the Russian Federal Security Service to recruit him as a spy, the New York Times reported.
The former official, Thomas Firestone, had been living and working in Moscow as a lawyer for an American law firm, and had extensive contacts in the Russian government. He was detained at Sheremetyevo airport outside Moscow on May 5 while trying to return to Russia from a trip abroad. (Yitzhak Benhorin, Washington)
