Russia wrestles
with how to respond to the U.S. order to shut its San Francisco consulate and trade offices in Washington, D.C., and New York.
MOSCOW — Russia wrestled Friday with how to respond to the U.S. order to shut its San Francisco consulate and trade offices in Washington and New York without going overboard and aggravating the already tense situation.
Russia needs to “think carefully about how we could respond,” to one of the thorniest diplomatic confrontations between Washington and Moscow in decades, said President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov.
“One does not want to go into a frenzy, because someone has to be reasonable and stop,” Ushakov added.
The Trump administration said the Thursday order was in retaliation for the Kremlin’s “unwarranted and detrimental” demand last month that the U.S. substantially reduce its diplomatic staff in Russia.
For its part, Russia justified its call for cuts to U.S. Embassy and consular personnel that took effect Friday as a reaction to new sanctions the U.S. Congress approved in July.
The U.S. gave Russia 48 hours, or until Saturday, to comply with the order for the San Francisco consulate and the East Coast offices. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday that Moscow would reply with firmness, but needs 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,” Lavrov said in a televised meeting with students at Russia’s top diplomacy school.
The closures on both U.S. coasts marked perhaps the most drastic diplomatic measure by the U.S. against Russia since 1986, near the end of the Cold War, when the nuclear-armed powers expelled dozens of each other’s diplomats.
American officials argued that Russia had no cause for retribution now, noting that Moscow’s ordering of U.S. diplomatic cuts last month was premised on bringing the two countries’ diplomatic presences into “parity.”
Both countries now maintain three consulates in each other’s territory and ostensibly similar numbers of diplomats. Exact numbers are difficult to independently verify.
Acrid, black smoke was seen pouring from a chimney at the Russian consulate in San Francisco on Friday.
Firefighters who arrived at the scene were turned away by consulate officials. An AP reporter heard people who came from inside the building tell firefighters that there was no problem and that consulate staff were burning unidentified items in a fireplace.
Several hours after the U.S. ordered the closures, new Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov arrived in Washington to start his posting.
In assessing Washington’s order, Russian officials and lawmakers said Friday that President Donald Trump might be getting tough on Russia against his will.
The new package of sanctions against Russia that Congress adopted last month not only hits Russia, but is designed to “tie Trump’s hands,” Lavrov said.