“Since the return of Putin, Russia has been engaged in an increasingly aggressive gray war across Europe. McFaul told me he and his family were regularly followed and the Russian intelligence services wanted his family to know they were being watched. In Moscow, where the harassment is most pervasive, diplomats reported slashed tires and regular harassment by traffic police. “In diplomatic practice there is always the principle of reciprocity and, indeed, for the last couple of years our diplomatic staff in the United States has been facing certain problems. “We were feeling embattled out there in the embassy.”There was a debate inside the Obama administration about how to respond, and ultimately President Obama made the decision not to respond with similar measures against Russian diplomats, McFaul said.

Source: Washington Post June 27, 2016 11:03 UTC