Russia to U.S.: Resolve Diplomatic Expulsions and Property Seizures

PRESS RELEASE

Russia to U.S.: Resolve Diplomatic Expulsions and Property Seizures

July 12, 2017 (EIRNS)—Russia says it will soon expel 30 U.S. diplomats and seize some U.S. property in Russia if the United States fails to resolve former President Barack Obama’s seizure of two Russian diplomatic compounds in the United States and the expulsion of 30 Russian diplomats in December 2016, a source in the Foreign Ministry told Izvestia. No agreement has been reached in more than six months.

Russian Senator Andrey Klimov told Izvestia,

"We are forced to draw a line and answer in a similar way. These moves are not meant as our attempts to show our negative attitudes toward the Trump administration, but rather as evidence of the fact that Russia is a strong nation that deserves respectable treatment."

There is a preliminary agreement on holding a meeting between Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ryabkov and U.S. Under Secretary of State Thomas Shannon in St. Petersburg. If a compromise is not found there, the Russian government will have to take such measures, a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told Izvestia.