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Diplomat slams US attempts to justify 'illegal intrusions' into Russian diplomatic offices

On September 2, the US closed Russia’s consulate general in San Francisco, the trade mission in Washington and its office in New York

© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

MOSCOW, September 6. /TASS/. Illegal intrusions into Russian diplomatic facilities in the United States cannot and should not be justified, Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

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"Attention has been focused on improper attempts of the United States’ officials to whitewash high-handed seizure of the Russian diplomatic property on September 2 in an attempt to attach a veneer of legality to it," Zakharova said. "Nevertheless, there is not and cannot be any acquittal to these outrageous steps."

"What the US Department of State calls … ‘inspections’ was actually an illegal intrusion into the Russian diplomatic facilities, coupled with their searches from cellars to attics," she added.

"We want to emphasize that the buildings, which belong to our state, were not sealed off but were seized. American ‘plainclothes agents’ still remain inside. Armed police officers are on duty on the perimeter of the adjacent area," Zakharova said.

"Inside the offices of the consulate general in San Francisco, the Americans are carrying out some ambiguous work. They are sawing and scraping something, as far as we understand, they are incurring considerable damage to the historical interior," she said. "US special agents have been strolling on the roof. In other words, they are behaving like intruders."

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