RUSSIA ROW: US STARTS TO CUT ITS DIPLOMATIC PRESENCE

The US began removing furniture and equipment from a diplomatic property in Moscow on Tuesday in the first sign of compliance with a Kremlin order to slash its presence in Russia as retaliation for new US sanctions.

President Vladimir Putin has ordered the United States to cut around 60 percent of its diplomatic staff in Russia by September 1, and said Moscow will seize two US diplomatic properties in response to sanctions approved by Congress last week.

The White House has said U.S. President Donald Trump will sign the sanctions bill, meant as a response to alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and to further punish Moscow for its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

On Tuesday, removal men began dismantling play equipment and barbecues at a US-owned dacha (country villa) on the outskirts of Moscow, after being refused access the day before, according to a Reuters journalist at the scene.

The dacha, which is being confiscated along with a US warehouse in the south of the Russian capital, was used by US diplomatic staff at the weekends and to host parties for students, journalists and other diplomats.

The removal men said they arrived at around 7 am and were seen packing furniture, including beds and lamps, into three white removal vans before leaving the property three hours later.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said US staff had to leave the dacha and warehouse by midday on Tuesday, TASS news agency reported. Ryabkov and the Kremlin said no one had obstructed US employees trying to access the property.

Putin said on Sunday Russia had ordered the US to cut 755 of its 1,200 diplomatic staff in its embassy and consular operations. REUTERS