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US orders Russia to close consulate in San Francisco

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Published: 03:44, 1 September 2017   Update: 15:18, 26 July 2020
US orders Russia to close consulate in San Francisco

International Desk: The US has ordered Russia to close diplomatic offices in San Francisco, New York and Washington within the next two days, in the latest round of punitive measures between the two countries that began at the end of last year.

The secretary of state Rex Tillerson spoke to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in a phone call on Thursday. Lavrov said Moscow “regrets an escalation of tension not initiated by Russia”, according to the state-run RT news channel. A senior US administration official said the call was “professional” and that Lavrov “agreed to the sentiment that it was important to find a way to improve our relations”.

No Russians will be expelled in this latest move, and US officials said staff at the offices affected could be reassigned to other Russian diplomatic missions around the country. But they made it clear that the buildings had to be vacated and would have to be sold or have their leases ended.

In this latest retaliatory move, the state department appeared to call Moscow’s bluff, after the Kremlin claimed it wanted parity between the US and Russian missions in each other’s countries.

The closures were announced on the day the new Russian ambassador, the former deputy foreign minister Anatoly Antonov, arrived in the US. His predecessor, Sergey Kislyak, was at the centre of the scandal surrounding contacts between aides to Donald Trump and the Putin regime.

Heather Nauert, a state department spokeswoman, said the US had fully carried out Moscow’s demands to cut its staff in Russia from 1,200 to 455, to make it the same size as the Russian mission in the US. The deadline for the staff reduction was 1 September. But Nauert also announced that the US was striking back for what she said was an “unwarranted and detrimental” move by the Kremlin.

“In the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians,” Nauert said in a statement, “we are requiring the Russian government to close its consulate general in San Francisco, a chancery annexe in Washington DC, and a consular annexe in New York City. These closures will need to be accomplished by 2 September.

“With this action both countries will remain with three consulates each. While there will continue to be a disparity in the number of diplomatic and consular annexes, we have chosen to allow the Russian government to maintain some of its annexes in an effort to arrest the downward spiral in our relationship.”

Nauert said the US hoped that “having moved toward the Russian federation’s desire for parity, we can avoid further retaliatory actions by both sides and move forward to achieve the stated goal of both of our presidents”.

The buildings to be shuttered by Saturday are the consulate general and official residence in San Francisco and trade mission offices in New York and Washington.

Agencies



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