WASHINGTON, December 23. /TASS/. Russia is being stonewalled as it tries to regain access to its diplomatic property that was seized by the US, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said in an interview.

"We don’t anticipate that the issue of seized Russian property will be settled in the near future," he told TASS. "Our repeated demands to provide access to the confiscated objects receive only negative replies."

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said earlier that six properties that are protected by the status of serving diplomatic purposes were still being illegally held by the US, and Russian diplomats are being denied access to them. In December 2016, the US stopped allowing Russians to enter countryside estates of the Russian embassy in the states of New York and Maryland, which were used by diplomats and their families for recreation.

In 2017, the Russian consulate general in San Francisco, trade office in Washington (both are government-owned) and its branch in New York (rented premises) were shut down as part of the sanctions on Russia. In 2018, Washington closed the Russian consulate general in Seattle (rented premises), the residence of the consul general (diplomatic property). Russia condemned the seizures of the diplomatic properties as a blatantly hostile move and called on the US to return them immediately.