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Russian ambassador slams US steps against Seattle consulate as unfriendly

US officials broke into the residence of Russia’s consul in Seattle, Washington, on Wednesday taking down the entrance door lock
Russian Foreign Ministry building in Moscow  Mikhail Dzhaparidze/TASS
Russian Foreign Ministry building in Moscow
© Mikhail Dzhaparidze/TASS

WASHINGTON, April 26. /TASS/. The United States’ steps against Russia’s diplomatic property in Seattle on Wednesday are unfriendly, unconstructive and anti-Russian, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov told reporters.

"This fine day was darkened by US steps, very unconstructive ones and very unfriendly, and I would even say anti-Russian," Antonov said.

"Today the US authorities took down the locks from the building where the Russian Consul General in Seattle lived. They violated all international conventions and all agreements. This gesture arouses nothing but grief and sorrow," the ambassador said.

US officials broke into the residence of Russia’s consul in Seattle, Washington, on Wednesday taking down the entrance door lock, a source with Russia’s embassy to the United States told TASS.

Nikolai Pukalov, the head of consular department of Russia’s embassy to the US, who is at the scene, told TASS that Russia views the US steps as violation of the international law. A similar situation occurred after the Russian consulate in San Francisco was closed on September 2, 2017 upon the US authorities’ demand, he recalled.

On Tuesday afternoon, diplomats working at the Russian Consulate General in Seattle left the city. Senior Consul Khalit Aisin told TASS that 23 people, including diplomats and their families, departed in eleven cars. The convoy headed for Washington.

The US ordered to seal off the building of the Russian Consulate General at midnight on April 1.

The Russian Consulate General in Seattle offered consular services on the territories of Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, Wyoming, Utah, and Guam Island, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands. Henceforth, Russian citizens will have to apply for consular assistance to the consular department of the Russian embassy in Washington, DC and to the consulates general in New York and Houston, Texas.