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THE UNITED STATES today ordered Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco and two other installations in two days, a move Moscow greeted with “regret”, as relations between the nuclear-armed powers took another dive.
The State Department said the decision was made “in the spirit of parity”, after Moscow in July ordered a dramatic reduction of US diplomatic staff in Russia.
At the start of Donald Trump’s presidency in January, the Republican leader said he hoped for improved relations with Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
But after the US Congress approved new economic sanctions against Moscow over its alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, Putin ordered drastic cuts in US staff in retaliation.
Along with the San Francisco consulate, the installations ordered closed were a chancery annex in Washington, where Moscow has a giant embassy complex, and a consular annex in New York.
“The United States has fully implemented the decision by the government of the Russian Federation to reduce the size of our mission in Russia,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.
“We believe this action was unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries,” she added, noting that, with the closures ordered, “both countries will remain with three consulates each”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed his “regret” over the move, after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called him to announce the decision. The pair will meet in September in New York.
“Moscow will examine the new measures announced by the Americans in detail after which our reaction will be announced,” Lavrov’s ministry said.
A senior US administration official said on condition of anonymity that the decision would not translate into the expulsion of Russian diplomats; those who work in the buildings to be closed can be transferred to other outposts in the US.
US warning
Last month, Putin said 755 diplomatic staff – both Russian and American – would have to stop work by Friday, 1 September, although the US State Department has not confirmed the number.
The number of US diplomatic staff will now be capped at 455, the same number that Russia has in the United States.
It is not clear how many of the US-employed staff losing their jobs will be physically leaving the country, or how many are Russian citizens. The RBK news site cited sources saying that at least 600 are Russian.
“We have waited long enough, hoping that the situation would perhaps change for the better,” Putin said when he announced the cuts.
But it seems that even if the situation is changing, it’s not for any time soon.
Washington today expressed hope that the two sides “can avoid further retaliatory actions… and move forward to achieve the stated goal of both of our presidents: improved relations between our two countries”.
But the State Department warned:
The United States is prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted.
Ball ‘in Washington’s court’
Washington-based analyst Boris Zilberman, of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, warned the US to be careful “that this cycle does not spin out of control”.
“This should be the last move in this cycle,” Zilberman said.
Washington had already announced it would suspend issuing all non-immigrant visas in Russia between 23 August and 1 September.
Visa operations at US consulates will remain suspended indefinitely.
Today’s announcement by the State Department came as Russia’s new ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, arrived in the US capital to take up his post, Russian news agencies reported.
“Right now we need to calmly examine (this situation). We should act calmly and professionally,” Antonov told RIA-Novosti.
As Lenin said, hysterical impulses are of no use to us.
Antonov’s predecessor Sergei Kislyak is one of the figures at the center of the scandal over alleged Russian meddling in the November election in a bid to help tilt the contest in Trump’s favor over Democrat Hillary Clinton.
“Russia and the United States will only develop effective cooperation if pressure, blackmail and attempts to force one’s will on the other party are removed from their dialogue,” Antonov said earlier this week.
“The ball in this game is in Washington’s court,” he told the Kommersant newspaper before today’s decision was made public.
an operation to defuse several WWII-era bombs.
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Is Michael Healy-Ray really that stupid ,,,,, Looks like the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree !!!!!
yes they are , and the very ones, that has there bread buttered by him , i heard , that these guys run, co, Kerry ,if your not with, them your out, and stay out ?. local Mafioso, i here say .big fish in small ponds .
How on earth did that amadan Healy Rae get elected , are people in constituency really that thick????
maybe we could put the dog into the dail instead of micheal.
As a farmer said to me ‘why should I indicate ,sure everybody knows where I’m going .’ The rural attitude to visitors/tourists is that they should deposit their money at the county boundary and not annoy the natives with demands for service, unspoilt countryside etc. It takes a Healy-Rae to actually come out and say this ; tell us more Michael.
Michael Healy Rae your ignorance knows absolutely no bounds!!
Michael Healy Rae is supported by the plain people of Kerry – crap goes in, crap comes out.
It’s bloody obvious Micheal Healy Rae is a man that can smell money a mile away. He must be doing a reality tv show soon and needs the cash for the phone and text votes. This is the Td who cut the grass of developers houses in my estate only last summer after he was elected. He even had his ‘vote no1′ stickers still on his van with his picture so there was no denying it was him. My ghost estate is in north cork so he drove a bit from Kerry to help the developer who is living it up in the uk!
I live in the country, and I know my way around. I have to say, country driving, particularly people over a certain age and in a certain profession, is shocking bad. No indicating, lucky if there’s one working brake light on the car. If a trailer is being towed, good luck. Then you can actually see the driver looking everywhere but the road. I usually have a rant about this a few times a week, when I’m stuck behind some numpty who doesn’t indicate, no brake light on the trailer, thinks road signs are just decorations for the roadside. And that Healy-Rae lad is a bigger numpty for questioning the need for road signs.
It says much for his chosen career that he is able to function as a member of the Dail, most of the political class see their job as being ” gettin in then gettin as much as they can ” this applies to most countries so we shouldn’t feel superior, but we do have a very good class of gobshites.
In a lot of rural areas, the local yooves tend to take great delight in turning the signs. And a turned sign is defintely worse than no sign at all! Many’s the time I’ve headed off in the wrong direction thanks to a bit of late-night shenanigans.
No money in signs as they are put in by the NRA also the bank hopes to “return to sustainable profitability by 2014.” by robbing the less well off..
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