Did Donald Trump's administration help Vladimir Putin silence an opposition figure in Russia?

[TomSea]

Excerpt:

Did Donald Trump's administration help Vladimir Putin silence an opposition figure in Russia?
By Marc Bennetts On 7/31/18

By Marc Bennetts On 7/31/18 at 7:00 AM

Last November, Igor Rudnikov was at home in his apartment in the tiny Russian region of Kaliningrad when he received some unexpected visitors: masked FSB security officers. They accused Rudnikov, an outspoken opposition lawmaker and newspaper editor, of trying to blackmail a senior law enforcement official and arrested him.

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The blackmail charges weren’t Rudnikov’s only legal problem. Officers of the FSB, the successor security agency to the dreaded KGB, also said they had found a U.S. green card during a search of the editor’s home. Since 2014, when anti-Western sentiments spiked in Russia over the war in eastern Ukraine, it has been a criminal offense not to divulge foreign residency or dual citizenship. Rudnikov again denied the accusation, but amid news reports that he was in possession of a green card, Kaliningrad’s regional parliament quickly voted to strip him of his status as a lawmaker. When he later challenged his ouster in court, Russian investigators told a judge they had proof from an unimpeachable source: the U.S. government. Prosecutors produced what they identified as a copy of a letter—a so-called diplomatic note—from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to the Russian Foreign Ministry. The document stated that Rudnikov was a U.S. resident and had possessed a green card since August 2013.

The revelation of the purported U.S. communiqué was a bombshell, setting up potential scandals in two nations. If what prosecutors alleged was true, the Trump administration broke longstanding diplomatic protocol to effectively assist Russia in its crackdown on an opposition figure. Former diplomats and immigration experts say the release of U.S. residency information to foreign governments under these circumstances would be unusual, especially when they involve government critics in countries considered by the U.S. to be adversaries. A former State Department diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, told Newsweek the U.S. would have the right to turn down any Russian request for information about Rudnikov. The decision, the former diplomat said, would be a “political values call.”

Read more at: https://www.newsweek.com/did-trump-administration-help-russia-silence-opposition-figure-1049118

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[TomSea]

*  Aside from the alarming headline, what this is saying is that the US embassy provided proof, a diplomatic note,  that this newspaper editor Igor Rudnikov did have a green card, etc. to the US so maybe the headline is a bit overblown in that sense. Looks like an important story, maybe not significant in the big picture.

An interesting story... maybe US did this for a favor elsewhere, say in Syria, NK or somewhere. I hope we can get follow up from somewhere, Newsweek or something.

@kevindavis