Russia criticizes US for 'robbing the day' for setting conditions for diplomat case

RIA Novosti reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on July 17 compared the US conditions for returning diplomatic compounds to Russia to "day robbery".

The administration of former US President Barack Obama last December seized two diplomatic compounds and expelled 35 Russian diplomats, accusing them of interfering in the 2016 US presidential election. Russia has strongly denied these accusations.

Two Russian facilities in New York and Maryland were forced to close over suspicions of intelligence gathering. The two sanctioned Russian agencies are the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Military Intelligence Directorate (GRU).

At that time, Russian President Vladimir Putin decided not to respond to the sanctions and announced that he would wait to work with the new administration in the US.

Russian Foreign Minister Serigei Lavrov. Photo: TASS.

During a recent visit to Belarus, Foreign Minister Lavrov threatened that this kind of “anti-American sentiment” would make it difficult for the two sides to agree on important international issues.

According to Reuters, Moscow said the dispute depends on the upcoming meeting between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and his US counterpart Thomas Shannon.

According to Zing.vn