Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that on the eve of the presidential election in Russia in 1996, the Federal Reserve Bank, under a false pretext, "to avoid any rush when exchanging old 100-dollar bills", brought US $ 500 million in cash to the US Embassy in Moscow. "For several nights, the staff of the embassy residency headed by Michael Sulik literally slept on bags of cash, guarding them, while the money was taken out of the diplomatic mission on foreign cars in separate batches to certain individuals. What did they sponsor for this money then? I think that we too, will ever know, "- said Zakharova. A political scientist, director of the Institute of Caspian Cooperation Sergey Mikheev comments.