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Russia ready for litigation over diplomatic property in US

However, no date when the court proceedings may begin has been set yet, the Russian deputy foreign minister said

MOSCOW, February 21. /TASS/. Great progress has been achieved in preparations for litigation with the United States over Russian diplomatic property, but no date when the court proceedings may begin has been set yet, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS on Wednesday.

"We have been through a very effort-consuming phase of gathering and generalizing all related evidence," he said. "The degree of readiness of all packages of documents is rather high."

Ryabkov said the process of preparations for the hearings was going on, but no dates had been set so far.

"But progress is obvious," he concluded.

The US authorities on September 2, 2017 closed Russia’s consulate-general in San Francisco, the trade mission in Washington and its office in New York, which Moscow had been using on lease terms. The first two facilities are Russian property and enjoy diplomatic immunity. Moscow interpreted the seizure of its diplomatic property as an openly hostile act and urged the US authorities to return it at once.

Speaking at a news conference in China’s Xiamen after the BRICS summit on September 5 Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the Foreign Ministry to protest the seizure of Russian property in a US court.