This really is troubling. It's very Soviet. (Then again, the Republican party has gotten very Soviet of late as well.) But Russia really is slipping back if they're trying this kind of heavy-handed tactic. From ABC:
American officials say the Russian intelligence agency that replaced the KGB, the Federal Security Service (FSB), produced the video in an attempt to either recruit or discredit the diplomat, Brendan Kyle Hatcher, a 34-year-old married State Department employee who serves as a liaison with religious and human rights groups in Russia.
When Hatcher rejected the Russian blackmail approach, officials said, the tape was posted last month on a supposed Russian internet news site that has no known reporters and that many Russian journalists believe is closely tied to the FSB.
