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Moscow announces more tit-for-tat moves on US diplomatic missions in Russia

On September 2, the US authorities closed the Russian Consulate General in San Francisco

© Alexandr Sherbak/TASS

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AMMAN, September 11. /TASS/. Moscow will introduce conditions in which Russian missions in the US and US missions in Russia will be operating totally equal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at Monday’s press conference.

"We are now studying the conditions in which American foreign missions in Russia and Russian foreign missions in the US are operating and we will make these conditions totally equal," Lavrov stressed.

He reiterated that when Moscow asked Washington to even out its diplomatic staff in Russia to the number of Russian diplomatic staff in the US, it showed goodwill and "included in this mainstream all those working in the Russian permanent delegation to the UN."

"The United Sates has ‘pocketed’ our kind move and said, ‘Russians want parity, then they should close one of the four consulates general, because we’ve got only three consulates general in Russia,’" the Russian foreign minister noted. "As long as the US took parity as a criterion," Russia will act in kind, he warned.

On September 2, US authorities closed the Russian Consulate General in San Francisco, the Russian Trade Representation in Washington and its office in New York rented by Russia. The first two facilities are Russian state property and have diplomatic immunity. Moscow regards the seizure of its diplomatic property as an openly hostile act and has called on US authorities to return these facilities immediately.

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