Russia Demands Return of its 2 Closed Compounds in US
Europe, Latest Headlines, World News Monday, July 17th, 2017
(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Russia demanded Monday that the United States return two compounds that were ordered closed last year after the U.S. intelligence community concluded that Moscow had interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the U.S. closure of the properties in the eastern states of New York and Maryland “daylight robbery.”
Then-U.S. President Barack Obama shut the compounds and expelled 35 Russian diplomats it accused of spying in December, less than a month before he left office, in response to the Russian election interference, a claim Moscow rejects.
Russia has refrained from a retaliatory response, but Lavrov said last week, “If Washington decides not to solve this issue, we will have to take counter actions,” possibly by blocking use of a country house and storage facility used by U.S. Embassy personnel in Moscow.
There was political speculation in Washington that President Donald Trump would quickly return the compounds to Russia when he took office in late January, but he did not./VOA
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