US diplomat spotted at illegal rally in Moscow – report

Moscow police have caught a Bond, but not the James Bond. A senior US embassy official named Bond was allegedly detained at an unauthorized opposition rally on Saturday in central Moscow.

The news comes from popular Russian blogger Norvezhsky Lesnoy, who caught the man waving his diplomatic ID at policemen on camera. It lists him as “R.K. Bond, Second Secretary, Vice-Consul of the  Embassy of the United States of America”.

He was reportedly detained along with over 50 other participants of the rally and was consequently released.

The US embassy in Moscow told RT that political officer Robert Bond was an observer, not a participant, at the demonstration. "The Embassy routinely sends Embassy officers to observe demonstrations, meetings and other political events. He was not arrested by the police,” the official comment reads.

Police say the rally was not authorized because a military festival had already been scheduled for the same place at the same time.

More than half of those detained are thought to be from the pro-Kremlin youth movement “The Young Russia”, who were trying to stop the demonstration.

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