Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced Moscow's plans to fully equalize the working conditions of American diplomats in Russia and the Russian in the United States. He said this on Monday, September 11, at a press conference in Amman.
The Foreign Minister noted that earlier Moscow had asked Washington to equalize the number of its diplomats with the number of the Russian diplomatic corps in the United States. At the same time, Lavrov stressed, our side showed "good faith" by including in the list of employees of the diplomatic missions of the Russian Federation in the United States and those Russians who work in the UN office.
"The United States, as it were, penned this good gesture of ours and said: if the Russians want parity, then they can close one of the four general consulates, because in Russia there are only three general consulates. If they have taken parity as a criterion, we are now considering the conditions in which US overseas institutions operate in Russia and Russia in the United States, and we will bring these conditions into full compliance with what is called parity, "the minister explained..
Meanwhile, the "Kommersant" became aware of the possible steps of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia regarding the diplomatic mission of the States in Russia in order to achieve the very parity.
Thus, American diplomats in our country may lose the opportunity to use dedicated parking near the buildings of consulates in Moscow and other cities, to face the limitation of the number of points for the entry of embassy staff to Russia. It is also assumed that the Russian side will limit the number of envoys of Washington, who are allowed to freely move around the country.
It is reported that in the Russian Federation there are now more points where US diplomats can enter Russia than points where Russian diplomats can enter the territory of the United States. In addition, the consulates and embassies of our country in the United States do not have parking lots near their buildings. Also, Americans in Russia have more senior diplomats (the level of adviser and above), entitled to unimpeded movement, than Moscow's ambassadors to the United States.
In the opinion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, all the above-mentioned does not correspond to the principle of parity.
Recall, on September 2, Moscow, at the request of the United States, closed the Consulate General in San Francisco, in which the building was searched.
The work was stopped by two sites of trade missions in Washington and New York.
Such actions by the US authorities became a response to the demand of Russia until September 1 to reduce to 455 people the total number of employees of the American diplomatic mission in Russia, which in turn was a reaction of the Russian Foreign Ministry to the adoption by the House of Representatives of a bill on new sanctions against Moscow and expulsion at the end of 2016.. 35 of our diplomats.