Sergei Ryabkov
Deputy foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Ryabkov said the protest, senior Deputy Secretary of state Thomas Shannon because of the hostile actions of Washington and the assault on diplomatic immunity. This was reported on the website of the Russian foreign Ministry.
Diplomats on Monday, September 11, held consultations in Helsinki that discussed acute issues of bilateral relations. “In the center of attention was the situation of forced closure by U.S. authorities of the Russian Consulate in San Francisco and the illegitimate seizure of our diplomatic property in this city and in Washington,” — said the foreign Ministry.
In addition, Moscow drew attention to Washington’s other “unacceptable action”, particularly the frequent arrests of Russian citizens by us intelligence agencies in third countries. The foreign Ministry also warned that the destruction of the Russian-American relations and the undermining of international law is fraught with grave consequences, and challenges are not the fault of Russia.
September 2, Russia at the request of the American side has closed the Consulate General in San Francisco, in the building were searched. According to the US, such demands were a response to Moscow’s proposal to reduce to 455 the number of personnel in U.S. diplomatic missions in the Russian Federation. Earlier, the Russian foreign Ministry responded thus to the adoption by the Senate of the Congress of a bill toughening sanctions against Russia.