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An Anonymous Coward writes:

The United States has told Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco, in retaliation for Moscow's demands that the size of the US mission in Russia be cut, according to the State Department.

The announcement on Thursday also included a demand for a reduction in Russian diplomatic presence in Washington, DC, and New York by Saturday with the closure of a chancery annex in Washington, DC, and consular annex in New York.

Last month, Russia ordered the US to cut its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia by more than half, to 455 people, after Congress overwhelmingly approved new sanctions against Russia.

[...] "In the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians, we are requiring the Russian Government to close its Consulate General in San Francisco, a chancery annex in Washington, DC, and a consular annex in New York City," [Department of State spokeswoman Heather Nauert] said.

"These closures will need to be accomplished by September 2."

[...] In order to deal with the reduction of staff in Russia, Washington said last week it would have to sharply scale back visa services, a move that will hit Russian business travellers, tourists and students.

The Russian consulate in San Francisco handles work from seven states in the western US.

There are three other Russian consulates separate from the embassy in Washington, DC. They are in New York, Seattle and Houston.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/orders-closure-russia-consulate-san-francisco-170831162458674.html
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-diplomacy-idUSKCN1BB2CY
https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/08/273751.htm
http://www.russianembassy.org/article/comment-by-the-embassy-of-the-russian-federation-to-the-united-states-on-the-decision-of-the

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