Black smoke rises from Russian consulate ordered to close by US

Black smoke billows from the Russian consulate in San Francisco as staff leave the building following a US order to close it just days ago.

Sky News reported that on September 1, the furniture from the San Francisco consulate building was quickly transferred to a small truck for removal. The request to close the consulate was made by the US side early on August 30 and must be completed by September 2.

What attracted the attention of journalists covering the move and passersby was the column of black smoke rising from the chimney of the consulate building.

Smoke rises from the Russian consulate building in San Francisco. Photo: Sky News.

San Francisco Fire Department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge said the smoke may have come from a fire in the building. Firefighters were dispatched to the scene.

AP reporters said consulate officials refused to let firefighters inside. People inside the building told them workers were burning some items and that no fire had broken out.

Ms Talmadge did not know what the consulate staff were burning. "It was not an accident. They were burning something," she said.

The Russian consul general in San Francisco, Sergey V. Petrov, was asked about the smoke but did not respond to questions about it or the embassy closure.

In a statement on Facebook, the Russian consulate in San Francisco said it had issued 16,000 Russian tourist visas to US citizens in 2016 and that closing the consulate would harm both countries.

On August 31, the US asked Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco and two ancillary buildings in Washington DC and New York. This move is in retaliation for the Kremlin's decision to expel 755 diplomats stationed in Russia not long ago.

After this retaliation by the US, each country will have 3 consulates in the other country.

Russian Consulate in San Francisco, USA. Photo: Wikipedia.

The reason for the series of "tit-for-tat" actions between the two countries is the sanctions passed by the US Congress in late July and approved by President Donald Trump later. This is an additional sanction against Russia, following the sanctions imposed for the annexation of Crimea into Russia in early 2014 and the US accusation that Russia interfered in the November 2016 presidential election.

According to Zing.vn.