Russia intends to sue US over restricted access to its diplomatic buildings
Russia will sue over the US decision to restrict access to property belonging to the Russian diplomatic mission, as stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a press conference at the BRICS summit, Interfax reports.
According to Putin, he will instruct the Russian Foreign Ministry to file a case in court due to the US decision. "This is a clear violation of Russia’s property rights, so first I'll instruct the Foreign Ministry to go to court. Let's see how effectively the vaunted American judicial system works," Putin said.
He added that the decision of the US authorities to limit access to buildings belonging to the Russian diplomatic mission is "unprecedented." In addition, he stressed that Russia "reserves the right" to reduce the number of American diplomats in Russia by another third, however it will not be doing this yet, the President stressed.
"Strictly speaking, in talking about full parity, there are not 455 US diplomats in Moscow, but they can be reduced by 155 more. We reserve the right to decide on the number of American diplomats in Moscow, however we will not do it for now," Putin said.
At the same time, he stressed that the country's authorities have the right to reduce the staff of the diplomatic mission of another state, but in the case of the US it was "done in a boorish manner," which, according to Putin, does not suit American partners.
On Saturday, September 2nd, the United States restricted Russia's access to buildings used by the trade mission in Washington and its branch in New York. On August 31st, the US demanded the closure of the Russian Consulate in San Francisco. This was done in response to Moscow's decision to reduce the number of employees of the US diplomatic mission in Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry, made this decision because of a new package of sanctions which the US introduced in early August.
In addition, after the announcement of the Russian Foreign Ministry requiring a reduction in the staff of the American diplomatic mission, the US Embassy, on August 21st, reported that because of this, the issuance of non-immigrant visas to Russians will be restricted. Since September 1st, the consulate in Moscow has resumed the processing of documents, and US missions in Yekaterinburg and St. Petersburg have suspended the issuance of visas for an indefinite period.