The Russian Foreign Ministry has jokingly advised the US State Department to pay its staff working in Moscow more generously, for their harsh working conditions. The suggestion is accompanied by a video apparently showing a drunk US Embassy employee trying to get to work early in the morning, RT reported.
On Thursday, the ministry posted a message on its Telegram channel saying, “We call on the US State Department to increase the salaries of employees of the US Embassy in Moscow for unbearable working conditions.” The message continued by suggesting that “fighting us is a tiring activity”.
The “advice” is accompanied by a three-minute video clip, which features CCTV footage apparently captured early in the morning on July 10 this year near the US Embassy in Moscow.
It begins with a caption saying, “An employee of the US Embassy in Moscow is fighting the regime…as hard as he can.” The clip then shows a man staggering down a street and then along a sidewalk, with a gait resembling that of an inebriated person. At one point, the man falls to the ground, struggling for some time to get up.
The man is then seen entering the compound of the diplomatic mission, the back of his shirt visibly wet and dirty from his fall.
The video then shows the man trying to open a door, but with little success. Finally, a policeman comes to her rescue. The two are seen talking, then the man shows what looks like an ID card and walks away from the door.
The clip ends by quoting a Washington Post article dated December 3, 2021, saying, “The embassy is so understaffed that many staff members have had to take on extra jobs. US Ambassador John Sullivan, for example, learned how to mix solutions to clean toilets and also how to work a floor pad…”
According to Russian media, the man in the video is an embassy guard, US sailor Navarro Nicholas Stormy.
The US government has accused Moscow of effectively crippling the work of its embassy by expelling most of its staff. Russia, in turn, insists the expulsions were ordered in response to Washington kicking out Russian diplomats.
