Kremlin urges Washington to return Russian diplomatic property in the US
At a meeting of the UN Security Council on Thursday, April 5, Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, called on Washington to return diplomatic property it has seized from Russia.
"The United States has seized diplomatic property from Russia, including Russian property for the Permanent Mission to the United Nations here in New York, and has established a 25-mile zone of restriction on our diplomats. It does not extend nor issue American visas to them," Nebenzya said.
He called on the US to "take its responsibilities as a host country" and return to Russia everything "that they have illegally taken away from us, and refrain from such steps in the future."
On March 26, the administration of US President Donald Trump announced its decision to expel sixty Russian diplomats and close the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Seattle. This action was taken in connection with the poisoning of former double-agente Sergei Skripal in the British town of Salisbury.
In September 2017, the United States closed the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in San Francisco, as well as two consular sites in Washington and New York.