US agents close Russian trade mission, Moscow protests

Dave Clark, with Max Delany in Moscow

AFPSeptember 2, 2017

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-agents-close-russian-trade-mission-moscow-protests-213255008.html?.tsrc=fauxdal

US federal agents inspected the Russian trade representative's office in Washington, one of three diplomatic facilities that Washington has ordered shut down

US federal agents inspected the Russian trade representative's office in Washington, one of three diplomatic facilities that Washington has ordered shut down (AFP Photo/Eric BARADAT)

Washington (AFP) - US federal agents inspected a Russian trade mission in Washington to confirm its closure on Saturday, despite a furious diplomatic protest from Moscow.

The United States and Russia are in the grip of a diplomatic dispute, and the trade representative's office is part of a group of properties Washington has ordered closed.

Russian officials were forewarned of the inspection and, according to a report in Foreign Policy magazine, lit a fire on Friday apparently to burn documents at the facility.

"Today, Russian Embassy personnel, together with State Department officials, walked through three properties in San Francisco, New York and Washington, DC that the Russian government is required to close," a State Department official said.

"These inspections were carried out to secure and protect the facilities and to confirm the Russian government had vacated the premises," he said, adding that all three are now closed.

On Saturday, US agents could be seen on the grounds of the 

Washington mansion, which served as both the home and office of the Russian trade representative. It has been owned by Moscow since the Soviet era.

The US State Department official said Washington had fully complied with its duties under the Vienna Convention in preserving the security of foreign missions, but in Moscow the Russian foreign ministry was furious even before the inspection began.

The ministry summoned acting US mission head Anthony Godfrey and gave him a "note of protest over the intention of the American authorities to conduct a search."

Russian news agency RIA-Novosti reported that the search began in the presence of Russian officials.

But the ministry nevertheless warned that the visit "could be used by the US intelligence services to organize an anti-Russian provocation involving planting compromising materials."

The trade mission in Washington is one of three diplomatic buildings -- including the consulate in San Francisco and an office in New York -- that the US had ordered Moscow to vacate by Saturday.

Russia's foreign ministry said Friday that US intelligence was also planning to search the consulate in San Francisco.

Black smoke was seen rising from a chimney at the consulate on Friday, and firefighters confirmed its occupants were burning unidentified objects.

A spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry insisted the smoke was due to measures to "preserve the building" at a time when officials were gearing up to leave.

- Diplomatic saga -

Washington issued the closure order Thursday in retaliation for Moscow ordering the US to slash its diplomatic mission by 755 personnel by September 1.

The number of US diplomatic staff will now be capped at 455, the same number that Russia has in the United States.

The recent surge in tensions between the two nuclear-armed powers was an early diplomatic setback for US President Donald Trump.

During his campaign for office last year and in the early days of his presidency he had promised to try to improve relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ties had slumped to their lowest point since the Cold War after the Kremlin's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

The West slapped sanctions on Russia over its meddling in its ex-Soviet neighbor, sparking a revenge embargo from Moscow against agricultural products.

Last year, tensions again escalated after US intelligence accused Putin of masterminding a hacking and influence campaign to tip the presidential vote to Trump.

And in the waning days of his tenure, president Barack Obama punished Russia by turfing out 35 diplomats and closing diplomatic compounds in New York and Maryland.

Moscow initially held off from retaliating but when Congress passed new sanctions, the Kremlin decided to belatedly strike back and ordered the US staff cut.

Congress worded the sanctions bill to make it impossible for Trump to waive them without consulting lawmakers -- a move which further infuriated Moscow.

"First, it ends hopes for improving our relations with the new US administration," Russia's Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev wrote on Facebook.

"Second, it is a declaration of a full-fledged economic war on Russia. Third, the Trump administration has shown its total weakness by handing over executive power to Congress in the most humiliating way."

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Moscow was studying the latest US order to shutter the compounds and would then decide how to react.

comment:

IF US WOULD KNOW THAT RUSSIAN ALL TRADE CENTERS ARE THE HUB OF SPY NET WORK IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A BONUS FOR THE SECURITY ,OF THE COUNTRY.

A SIMPLE INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE WHO DOES NOT KNOW I SUPPOSE CIA SHOULD BE KNOWING THAT PAKISTAN WAS DIVIDED NOT BY INDIA ALONE BUT THE FORCE BEHIND WAS RUSSIA'S TRADE COUNCILOR STATIONED AT DHAKA BANGLADESH. .

AND NOW WHAT EVER IS HAPPENING IS FROM CHITTAGONG BY THE TRADE CENTER OF RUSSIA UNDERCOVER AND BY INDIAN EMBASSY AT DHAKA CHITTAGONG, AND RAJSHAI. SAME THAT HAPPENED MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED FROM THE RUSSIAN TRADE MISSION IN US AND THAT IS HAPPENING IS HAPPENING BOTH BY KGB HUBS AND INDIAN HUBS IN BANGLADESH. .

COUNTRY'S HAVING TRADE MISSION OF RUSSIA IN ALL OVER THE WORLD SHOULD BE ALERT IF POSSIBLE CLOSE DOWN THESE TRADE MISSIONS IMMEDIATELY TO AVERT CATASTROPHIC  ACTIVITIES IN THE HOME COUNTRIES BY THESE RUSSIAN KGB.BETTER TO TAKE PREVENTIVE MEASURES THEN CONFRONT AND DO CURATIVE MEASURES

BECAUSE IT IS THE HUB OF KGB CORNER FOR SPY WORK IN THE HOST COUNTRY ALL OVER THE WORLD.

THESE DAYS INDIA HAS ESTABLISHED THEIR RAW HUB IN DIFFERENT DISTRICTS OF THE COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD. DETAILS WOULD BE AVAIL ABLE ON CRIMINAL OR SUSTAINED INQUIRY BY THE INTERESTED HOST COUNTRIES INTELLIGENCE UNITS. EVEN BANGLADESH SHOULD BE INTERESTED.

US MIGHT LIKE TO BE EXTRA ALERT ON RUSSIAN EMBASSY IN OWN AND ALLY COUNTRIES ALL OVER THE WORLD.

US agents close Russian trade mission, Moscow protests

US federal agents inspected a Russian trade mission in Washington to confirm its closure on Saturday, despite a furious diplomatic protest from Moscow. The United States and Russia are in the grip of a diplomatic dispute, and the trade…

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