Foreign ministry in Moscow has jokingly suggested American mission staff should get a raise for their hard working conditions
© Telegram / MID_Russia
Russia’s foreign ministry has, in jest, advised the US Department of State to remunerate more generously its staff working in Moscow, for their tough working conditions. The suggestion is accompanied by a video apparently depicting a drunken US embassy employee trying to make it to his work early in the morning.
On Thursday, the ministry published a post on its Telegram channel reading: “We call on the US Department of State to raise the pay for the employees of the American embassy in Moscow for unbearable working conditions.” The message went on to suggest that “fighting us is a tiring activity.”
Accompanying the ‘advice’ is a three-minute-long video clip, which features CCTV footage apparently captured early in the morning on July 10 this year in the vicinity of the US embassy in Moscow.
It starts out with a caption reading “An employee of the US Embassy in Moscow is fighting the Regime… as hard as he can.” The clip then shows a man staggering across a street and then along a sidewalk, with a gait resembling that of an intoxicated person. At one point, the man tumbles to the ground, struggling for some time to get up again.
The man is then seen entering the diplomatic mission’s grounds, the back of his shirt visibly wet and dirty after his fall.
The video goes on to show the man attempting to open a door, though without much success. Eventually a policeman comes to his 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 shorthanded that many staff have had to take on extra jobs. U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan, for example, learned how to mix solutions to clean the restrooms and also how to work a floor buffer…”
According to Russian media, the man in the video is an embassy guard, US marine Navarro Nicholas Stormy.
The US government has accused Moscow of effectively paralyzing its embassy’s work by expelling most of its staff. Russia, in turn, insists the expulsions were ordered in response to Washington booting out Russian diplomats.
