Russia calls on the US to stop expelling diplomats and return diplomatic property
RIA Novosti reports that Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister said he would like that the US and Russia abandon the mutual expulsions of diplomats.
According to the Russian foreign minister, he proposed this during his meeting with the US National Security Advisor to the President, John Bolton.
Lavrov also expressed the desire to resolve the issue of the country’s diplomatic property. According to him, the beginning of the resolution includes mutual permission to visit those buildings “that were seized and expropriated” by Russia and the USA. “They will think about it, we made an offer, and the ball is in their court,” said Lavrov.
The Russian Foreign Minister noted that Moscow proposed that both sides ensure comfortable conditions for diplomats.
In December 2016, the administration of the US President Barack Obama introduced a number of new sanctions against the Russian Federation. 35 Russian diplomats, together with their families were expelled from the United States. Access was denied to summer homes for the Russian Permanent Mission at the UN in New York and the embassy in Washington. Sergey Lavrov said that the seizing of Russian diplomatic property in the US is “robbery in broad daylight.”