MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has branded the charges against the Russian consulate general in San Francisco of violating garbage incineration rules a ‘performance’ expected to absolve the barbaric actions of Washington’s intelligence services on the premises of a diplomatic mission.
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"An anti-Russian performance in the United States is taking place," Zakharova said on her Facebook page. "The show running at the moment is called Russians Poison San-Francisco. Why? One of the reasons behind it is to excuse the barbaric actions by US secret services on the premises of the Russian consulate general."
Earlier, CBS said the authorities of one of San Francisco’s districts notified Russia’s consulate-general it was in breach of local garbage incineration rules. The notification did not mention the sum of the fine. The settlement procedure may last several weeks to several months.
On September 1, fire-fighting brigades were sent to the building of Russia’s consulate-general when smoke was seen rising from the premises of the Russian diplomatic mission. It eventually turned out that the smoke was coming from the chimney of the Russian consulate-general. The US authorities closed down Russia’s consulate general in San Francisco on September 2.