XIAMEN /China/, September 3. /TASS/. Moscow finds Washington’s latest moves utterly unacceptable and expressed profound regret over the searches conducted at the Russian trade mission in Washington, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday, adding that Russian-US relations continue to deteriorate.
"Evidently, we can express profound regret over this violation of international law," he told journalists. He stated that such actions "undermine international law" and "run counter to the convention on diplomatic relations."
"This can only evoke utter disapproval and profound regret," he stressed. "Steps are being taken (by the US) that further erode Russian-US relations."
"A month ago, one might have thought that any further worsening in our relations couldn’t have been possible, but the US side is demonstrating that it can go further and further down that path," Peskov noted. "We regret it."
The Kremlin spokesman refrained from answering a question on any possible response measures by Moscow. "Let us wait until the Russian head of state expresses his point of view on that matter," he noted.
When asked whether Putin had been informed about what had happened in Washington, Peskov posed a question in reply, "And what do you think?" "When one of the world’s biggest nations tramples on international law, the president of another of the globe’s biggest nations is immediately informed about that," he stressed.
On August 31, US authorities demanded Moscow close its consulate general in San Francisco, its trade mission in Washington and its office in New York by September 2.
Earlier, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that on September 2, American authorities had seized the buildings of Russia’s consulate general in San Francisco and trade mission in Washington, which are Russian property and enjoy diplomatic immunity. Apart from that, Russian personnel were denied access to the premises of the Russian trade mission rents in New York. Moscow described the seizure of Russian diplomatic property in the United States as an openly hostile step and called on the US authorities to return the diplomatic facilities immediately.