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Russian Foreign Minister Saturday told US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the charges against a woman accused of infiltration of US political organizations as a Russian agent were "fabricated" and that she should be released.
Sergey V. Lavrov, was made in a phone call, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry. The Justice Ministry accused the woman, Maria Butina, of acting as an unregistered agent of Russia while she attended the conventions of the National Rifle Association and that she had access to conservative circles to influence powerful Republicans.
effort on behalf of Ms. Butina. On Thursday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched a social media campaign on its Twitter account, stating that it was mobilizing a digital "flashmob" to demand his release.
The state department did not immediately comment on Saturday's exchange, although it is unlikely that the United States would suddenly release Ms. Butina. In a detailed indictment, the Justice Ministry accused her of indulging in a series of deceptions for several years.
Saturday's telephone conversation also focused on what the Russian Foreign Ministry described as efforts to improve conditions in Syria. 19659002] The call came after a week when Moscow seemed to go ahead with what the officials said were "agreements" reached at the Monday's summit between President Vladimir V. Putin and the President Trump
Given his in-camera discussion with Putin, details came from Moscow on issues relating to the security of Israel and the wars in Syria and Ukraine. The flow of statements, allusions and leaks from Moscow gave the impression that Russian officials were taking the lead in monitoring the summit meeting.
The Russian Ministry of Defense, for example, said Friday that it had sent the United States proposal to extend cooperation in Syria beyond the military "desintrication" – making sure that that Russian and US forces do not inadvertently target – to include the repatriation of refugees and the financing of reconstruction
. General Mikhail Mizintsev told reporters during a briefing at the headquarters of the Russian General Staff
The Russian proposal calls for the creation of a Russian-American group. work for the return of Syrian refugees from Jordan and Lebanon. General Mizintsev said that "the US side is currently working on the Russian proposal", although there was no immediate response in Washington.
The flow of statements from Moscow sometimes seemed to surprise US officials, and in some cases
The US General Supervising Operations in Syria, General Joseph L. Votel, said on Thursday that he was not going to be in charge. had received no new directive from Washington. And the United States and its European allies have long insisted that they would not pay for post-war reconstruction in areas controlled by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Russian leaders openly spoke of the defeat of the rebels. groups in southern Syria that were once backed by the United States. Mr. Trump offered only advice on this effort. 
Tuesday, Mr. Trump said, "We discussed Israel and Israel's security, and the President Putin is very involved now with us in a discussion with Bibi Netanyahu "- the leader of Israel -" by working something around Syria. "
The Assad Army, supported by Russia has entered an area of southern Syria along the Israel-controlled Golan Heights border. The Russians suggested that diplomacy focused on the exclusion of troops and proxies from Iran, another ally of Assad, from newly seized lands along this border. the border region and had "understood what it would look like" after the defeat of the rebels. He said the agreement specified that "some units would abandon the territory," an apparent reference to Iranian paramilitaries.
In the lead up to the summit, Putin and his diplomats met with leaders of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Qatar; senior diplomats from Oman and Jordan; and two close advisers to the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
But badurances that Mr. Putin could have offered Mr. Trump were not clear. Russian experts from the Middle East said that Moscow's influence in the Syrian civil war was limited despite its efforts to position itself as a broker.
The Russian authorities also described a proposal by Putin to hold a referendum on the future of Donbas. , a region of coal mining and steel foundry that was seized by four years of war between separatists backed by Russia and the Ukrainian government.
Ukrainians say that such a vote would be manipulated and useless as long as Russian and Russian troops … supported paramilitaries control the territory. An election in the war zone should also address a thorny issue of the right to vote for refugees and internally displaced persons.
Putin described the referendum proposal on Thursday at a rally of Russian diplomats that was closed to the media, but participants soon confirmed his comments to Bloomberg who reported the offer.
While US officials remained silent Friday, the Russian ambbadador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said Friday at a conference in Moscow that Putin had offered Mr. Trump "Specific proposals for The Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman said that it was time to" discuss other options "in Ukraine, apparently a reference to a referendum.
On his Twitter account Thursday, Mr. Trump cited the discussions on Ukraine as part of the " great success " of the summit, but without providing any details.
Sign that the Russia's statements became disconcerting, Ukrainian politicians "
" President Putin's proposals are still misleading, "wrote Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a former prime minister, on Facebook." It's a trap of negotiation. "
This is That Friday that the spokesman of the National Security Council, Garrett Marquis, finally rejected the idea. "The administration does not plan to support a referendum in eastern Ukraine," he said.
Tymofiy Mylovanov, a professor at the Kyiv School of Economics, said the proposal and US silence were dangerous for Ukraine. to "control the story", in Ukraine as elsewhere.
