U.S. shuts down Russian consulate in San Francisco ‘in the spirit of parity’
American officials have ordered Moscow to close its consulate general in San Francisco, “in the spirit of parity involved by the Russians.” According to a statement issued by the U.S. State Department, Moscow is also being forced to close a chancery annex in Washington, D.C., and a consular annex in New York City. Russia has until Saturday, September 2, to vacate these facilities. The new restrictions will leave Moscow with three consulates in the United States: in New York, Houston, and Seattle.
American officials have justified the move against Russia as a response to Moscow’s “unwarranted and detrimental to our overall relationship” decision to reduce the size of the U.S. mission in Russia, restricting the number of U.S. diplomatic staff in Russia to the number of Russian diplomatic staff in America. Washington also threatened “to take further action as necessary and warranted.”
Just before the announcement, U.S. State Secretary Rex Tillerson spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, warning Moscow’s top diplomat that Washington planned to shut down the San Francisco consulate. Lavrov later “expressed regret” and promised a Russian response in the future.
The first rumors about the U.S. closing down a Russian consulate appeared in the Russian media, when newspaper Kommersant reported on August 11 that one Russian consulate could be headed for the chopping block.
On December 29, 2016, the United States imposed sanctions on Russia for Moscow’s alleged interference in the U.S. presidential election. Washington expelled 35 Russian diplomats, accusing them of playing a role in Russia’s supposed meddling. Two embassy properties were also closed down and seized by American officials.
In late July 2017, following another round of U.S. sanctions against Russia, Moscow ordered the United States to reduce the number of its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia to 455 people — the same number of people currently working at Russia’s diplomatic facilities in the U.S. According to Russian officials, this led to the dismissal of more than 700 staff. The news agency RBC says roughly 100 of these people were American citizens, while the rest were local Russian employees working at the U.S. embassy and consulates.
In response to recent Kremlin sanctions drastically reducing America’s diplomatic presence in Russia, the U.S. embassy in Moscow announced on Monday that non-immigrant visas will no longer be issued in the three U.S. consulates across the country, beginning on August 23. As of September 1, the only place Russians will be able to interview for U.S. visas will be the embassy in Moscow.