Russia lashes out after Trump orders closure of consular missions
▶ Black smoke billows out of chimney at Russia’s San Francisco consulate as diplomats rush to meet deadline
Russia accused the United States on Friday of a “gross violation of international law” after the Trump government gave Moscow two days to close diplomatic offices in San Francisco and other American cities.
As Russian envoys rushed to meet yesterday’s deadline, black smoke billowed out of the chimney at the San Francisco consulate, one of three Russian missions being forcibly closed.
Firefighters, who were turned away by Russian officials when they responded, said the Russians were burning something in their fireplace.
The Russian government claimed yesterday that US officials were planning to search the consulate and apartments used by their diplomats.
But the state department said that it merely planned to “secure and maintain” the properties and that Russia would not be allowed to use them for “diplomatic, consular or residential purposes” any longer.
The Kremlin appeared to be considering how forcefully to react to the US order, the latest retaliation between the former Cold War foes.
President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said Russia needed to “think carefully about how we could respond” to one of the thorniest diplomatic confrontations between Washington and Moscow in decades.
“One does not want to go into a frenzy because someone has to be reasonable and stop,” Mr Ushakov said.
The other two offices to close were trade missions in New York and Washington. The Russian embassy in Washington and three other consulates were not affected.
The Trump government said the order was retaliation for the Kremlin’s “unwarranted and detrimental” demand last month that the US substantially reduce the size of its diplomatic staff in Russia. But Russia justified its call as a reaction to sanctions the US congress approved in July.
Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said on Friday that Moscow would reply with firmness to the forced closure of the diplomatic posts, but needed time to study Washington’s directive and to decide on a response.
“We will have a tough response to the things that come totally out of the blue to hurt us and are driven solely by the desire to spoil our relations with the United States,” Mr Lavrov said.
Despite Russia’s claim that the US is breaking international law, the US has defended the closures by citing the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. It said the 1960s-era agreement gave host countries the right to consent to foreign countries establishing consular posts, or not.
The closures marked the most drastic diplomatic measure by the US against Russia since 1986, near the end of the Cold War, when the nuclear-armed powers expelled dozens of each other’s diplomats.
US officials said that Russia had no cause for retribution, noting that Moscow’s ordering of US diplomatic cuts last month was based on bringing the two countries’ diplomatic presences into parity. But exact numbers are difficult to verify.
US counter-intelligence officials have long watched Russia’s mission in San Francisco, concerned that people posted to it were engaged in espionage. The US late last year kicked out several Russians posted there, calling it a response to election interference.
In December, president Barack Obama kicked out dozens of Russian officials and closed two Russian recreational compounds.
Mr Putin withheld from retaliating. The following month, Donald Trump took office after campaigning on promises to improve US-Russia ties.
This month, Mr Trump begrudgingly signed into law increased sanctions on Russia that Congress pushed to stop him easing up on Moscow.
The Kremlin retaliated by telling the US to cut by hundreds its embassy and consulate staff to 455. The US never confirmed how many diplomatic staff it had in the country at the time.
The US last month temporarily suspended non-immigrant visa processing for Russians seeking to visit the US and resumed it on Friday at a “much-reduced rate”. It also said it would stop conducting visa interviews at its Russian consulates, leaving the embassy in Moscow as the only option.
Despite the exchange of reprisals, there have been signs of US-Russian co-operation that have transcended the worsening ties. In July, Mr Trump and Mr Putin signed a deal with Jordan for a ceasefire in south-west Syria. The US says the truce has largely held.