MOSCOW, August 13. /TASS/. Moscow does not rule out an asymmetric response to Washington’s destructive actions against Russian diplomats, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s North American Department Alexander Darchiev told TASS on Saturday.
"Russian overseas missions in the United States work in very difficult conditions, in the atmosphere of Russophobia imposed by the American authorities amid restrictions constantly introduced against our employees. They have been actually denied the freedom of movement and even routine contacts in the Department of State, other agencies of executive and legislative power," the high-ranking diplomat pointed out.
"We, naturally, are not interested in the escalation but we have to take counter-measures to such hostile actions - both tit-for-tat and asymmetric moves. This is the reality: each action generates counter-action," he stressed.
As Darchiev pointed out, the Russian diplomatic missions experience serious staff difficulties as a result of "the visa war unleashed by Washington."
"Since 2016, the American authorities have confiscated and, to call things by their proper names, have simply stolen six diplomatic properties that belonged to our country by virtue of private ownership. The access of Russian diplomats to these properties as the owner’s legitimate representatives has been totally closed," he stressed.
The high-ranking Russian diplomat also pointed to "one of recent examples of Washington’s aggressive behavior - its refusal to let special flights into its airspace closed for Russia to repatriate the staff of Russian overseas missions and their family members expelled from the United States."
"In these circumstances, there is no possibility for even minimally normalizing the conditions of the work of our diplomatic missions," Darchiev stressed.