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Russia preparing lawsuit against US over diplomatic property - Ambassador

"We have a direct instruction from Russian President Vladimir Putin, we work on implementation of this instruction," Anatoly Antonov said

UNITED NATIONS, September 22./TASS/. Moscow is preparing a lawsuit against the US on the situation around Russian diplomatic property, Russia’s Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov told reporters on Friday.

"We are working on this issue. The matter is rather complex, it must be studied," the diplomat said. "We have a direct instruction from Russian President Vladimir Putin, we work on implementation of this instruction," he added.

On September 2 the United States authorities seized the buildings of Russia’s consulate general in San Francisco and a trade mission in Washington, which are Russia’s property and enjoy diplomatic immunity. Apart from that, Russian personnel was denied access to the premises 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.

Addressing a news conference after the BRICS summit in China’s Xiamen on September 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to go to court over the seizure of Russia’s diplomatic property in the United States. "The American side has stripped Russia of the right to use its property - this is obvious violation of proprietary rights of the Russian side. To begin with I will issue instructions to the Foreign Ministry to take the case to court. Let us see how effectively the vaunted US judicial system works," Putin said.