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Russia reserves right to retaliate in diplomatic property issue — diplomat

CNN reported earlier that the row over seized compounds has "almost" been settled

Russian embassy in New York EPA/JOHN TAGGART

Russian embassy in New York

© EPA/JOHN TAGGART

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Kremlin won’t tolerate seizure of its diplomatic properties in US for long

MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/. Moscow reserves the right to countermeasures on the basis of the reciprocity principle, if the issue of the Russian diplomatic property in the US is not resolved, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday following meeting between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon.

"The parties continued the search for solutions to the accumulated problems, including those related to the illegal seizure of Russia’s property in the US by the Obama administration," the ministry said. "The Russian side emphasized that, if Washington fails to remove this and other irritants, including the ongoing creation of obstacles to the activities of our diplomatic missions, we reserve the right to tit-for-tat measures on the basis of the reciprocity principle."

In December 2016, the Obama administration imposed sanctions on Russia declaring 35 staff members of the Russian Embassy in Washington and the Consulate General in San Francisco persona non grata and seizing two Russian diplomatic compounds - one in Maryland and the other one in New York. Russians were denied access to these compounds. Moscow has not taken tit-for-tat measures so far.

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