(Newswire.net — July 30, 2017) — Even before Donald Tramp signed off on a law on new sanctions against Russia, Moscow ordered Washington to reduce the number of diplomats in Russia to 455, matching the exact number of Russian diplomats in the United States.
American diplomats are banned from accessing their property in Russia and can no longer use the luxurious resort “Silver Pine” (Serebryany Bor) and warehouses in Moscow. The decision may also complicate the life of two Anglo-American schools in Moscow.
The decision was made after both houses of the US Congress passed a law on new sanctions against Russia. The sanctions were introduced in December 2016, by Obama’s administration as measures of punishment for allegedly hacking the US elections.
US president Barack Obama ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats and the simultaneous seizure of two Russian diplomatic compounds, one in Maryland and another on Long Island.
At the time, the president of Russia Vladimir Putin didn’t order reciprocity measures hoping that a new US president would execute the discontinuity of all Obama’s administration decisions on Russia that set back the relationship between the countries to a Cold War period.
That, however, never happened. After Trump and Putin met during the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, the situation seemed to be going towards reconciliation, but only a month later, the situation worsened.
After President Trump said he would approve new sanctions on Russia, Moscow reacted instantly by ordering the US to decrease the number of diplomats in Russia to the exact number of Russian diplomats in the US. That also includes reciprocity measures of seizing US property.
The new package of sanctions primarily deals with the Russian energy sector. The final bill is now sent to the White House for signature.
Spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said on Thursday that Moscow was still waiting for the return of its seized property in U.S. and could retaliate in kind if that did not happen.
In the meantime, the US State Department declined to announce the number of diplomats who have to leave Russia, however, the Russian media claims that according to the request, the US would need to call back 200 to 300 employees in its diplomatic missions.
“Our policy is not to comment on the number of people working in our diplomatic missions abroad,” the State Department spokesman said.