The Consulate General of Russia in San Francisco
The US state Department has denied the information on carrying out searches and causing damage to the Russian Consulate in San Francisco, the employee of Department reported to RIA Novosti on Thursday, September 7.
“The allegations by the Russian government, including that US officials scoured or damaged Consulate General in San Francisco or any other buildings are about,” — said the representative of the Department to the Agency.
He added that the Russian side reported on the resolution of the Consulate staff to stay there until 1 October, so they had time to gather their belongings. “This requires us to physically restrict access to non-residential parts of the building of the Consulate,” — said in the state Department.
“This week we brought in foreign contract workers to build a wall between the office space and residential buildings and to ensure the safety of offices and utility rooms on the roof of the Consulate. The state Department informed the Russian government about the necessity of these construction works before they started and invited Russian officials to observe the work carried out. This work is now completed,” — said the employee of the Department. and confirmed that people in the building are allowed by the decision of the state Department.
On Wednesday the official representative of Russian foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova has published on his page in Facebook a video made inside the building of the Russian Consulate General in San Francisco. “Representatives of US law enforcement agencies carry out an unknown job in the territory of the Consulate General of Russia in San Francisco, disfigure expensive flooring, hosted without permission,” wrote Zakharov.
August 31, the US authorities demanded to close until September 2, the Russian Consulate General in San Francisco and to cease the use of the building trade delegation in Washington and new York. As explained in the White house, these actions were a response to the reduction of the U.S. diplomatic presence in Russia.
On Saturday evening, September 2, in the buildings of Russian diplomatic missions, the representatives of the American authorities began actions that the Russian side regarded as a search.