Russia threatens to cut 155 more U.S. diplomatic staff
MOSCOW — The Kremlin is threatening to order an additional 155 American diplomatic personnel removed from missions in Russia in a further escalation of the cycle of retaliation between the two world powers.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that Russia was seriously considering the additional cuts, although it had not yet made a formal petition. A senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the Trump administration was aware of the possibility.
Earlier this year, Moscow ordered the U.S. to slash its staff in Russia by nearly two-thirds, to 455 people, by Sept. 1. In response, the U.S. ordered Russia to shutter its consulate in San Francisco and two trade offices, in Washington, D.C., and New York.
Washington and Moscow are acting on differing interpretations of “parity,” that each government have an identical numerical presence in the other’s country. That was the justification Moscow used to cut the U.S. staff to 455, the same number Russia had here. The U.S. then said closing the San Francisco consulate meant each country would have three consulates.
Now, Russia said it was being too generous because the number 455 included staff at its mission at the United Nations: 155 people. That number of American employees in Russia may now need to go, Lavrov suggested. “If they have taken parity as a criterion ... we will bring these conditions into full compliance with what is called parity,” he said at a news conference Monday in Amman, Jordan.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the administration continued to hold out hope that relations will improve. “There are far too many areas where we can, we hope we can, cooperate with Russia.” She declined to predict “any potential Russian reaction.”
The cuts in staffing have crippled U.S. diplomatic functions in Russia, officials say. Visa processing, after a brief suspension, has been renewed but at a much slower pace and only in Moscow, not in the consulates in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg or Vladivostok.
The consulates canceled thousands of interview appointments for non-immigrant visa applicants on Sept. 1, and many Russians seeking visas to the U.S. are applying in neighboring countries, such as Ukraine.
In addition, the U.S. will have to turn to contractors for basic security services, the senior State Department official said. The official described the moves as taking a meat cleaver to the diplomatic mission in Russia.
Both governments acknowledge their relations, despite President Donald Trump’s professed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, are severely deteriorated — although the two continue to work on some issues, such as the fight against terrorism, cooperation in Syria and possibly curbing the nuclear threat posed by North Korea.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is expected to meet with Lavrov this month on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, and the State Department’s No. 3 official, undersecretary for political affairs Thomas Shannon, was in Helsinki, Finland, on Monday to talk with his Russian counterpart, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, about the embassies and other issues.
The downward spiral began in the waning weeks of the Obama presidency, when the last administration ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian intelligence officials and seized two Russian compounds as punishment for the Kremlin’s alleged meddling in the U.S. election process.
Putin did not respond at the time.
But in July, Congress overwhelmingly passed a new sanctions bill against Russian businesses and individuals, which Trump was forced to sign, albeit reluctantly.
Putin then ordered the first shearing of the American diplomatic corps, from about 1,200 to 455, though more than half of those removed, around 600, were locally hired Russian nationals. Two diplomatic compounds used by the U.S. Embassy staff were also taken back by the Russians. After Washington ordered closure of the additional offices in the U.S., Russians were further angered at inspections of the offices by U.S. security personnel.
Special correspondent Sabra Ayres reported from Moscow and the Times’ Tracy Wilkinson from Washington.