On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described the U.S. expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats and seizure of diplomatic property in December as “outrageous” and said Russia is considering retaliatory actions of a similar nature.
“I believe that for such a great country like the United States of America, this advocate of international law, it’s just shameful to leave the situation in mid-air. We are now thinking of specific steps,” Lavrov said while visiting Austria, as reported by Reuters.
He said that if the U.S. government does not return Russia’s diplomatic assets, “then, of course, we will take retaliatory measures.” Other Russian officials speculated those retaliatory measures would include expelling roughly 30 American personnel and seizing a few buildings in the Moscow area used by the American diplomatic mission, although the U.S. Ambassador and his personal residence would not be threatened.
“This is the law of diplomacy, the law of international affairs, that reciprocity is the basis of all relations,” Lavrov declared.
The Russians were expelled and two of their compounds seized in December 2016 under President Barack Obama to punish the Russians for cyber attacks on the 2016 election. Sanctions were also imposed on suspected hackers and companies accused of supporting cyber-espionage by Russian intelligence.
“All Americans should be alarmed by Russia’s actions,” Obama said at the time. “These data theft and disclosure activities could only have been directed by the highest levels of the Russian government.”
Lavrov advised Russian President Vladimir Putin to retaliate immediately, but he declined to do so. According to Russian media reports quoted by Reuters on Tuesday, Moscow was waiting to see if relations with the United States improved under the Trump administration. Putin was reportedly hoping to resolve the issue during his talks with President Trump at the G20 summit, but U.S. officials said it didn’t come up in the meeting.
In his remarks on Tuesday, Lavrov said the Obama administration acted “to poison to a maximum U.S.-Russian ties” and set a “trap” for Trump during its final days. He also accused the U.S. Congress of having an “anti-Russian bias.”
The BBC hypothesizes that Russia wants to increase pressure on the Trump administration ahead of a possible meeting between U.S. State Department and Russian Foreign Ministry officials. A conference between U.S. Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon and Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov in late June was canceled by the Russians and may be rescheduled for later in July.
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