NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th February, 2019) Russia's attempts to access its diplomatic properties in the United States have not seen any progress, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, told reporters.
"Regarding the diplomatic facilities, there has been no progress ... We have regular bilateral discussions with our US colleagues regarding this question, but the political environment is not conducive," Nebenzia said on Friday.
The diplomat noted that the Russian mission had been telling UN officials that "their inactiveness regarding this question will come around to them."
"Today it is Venezuela, for example, tomorrow it might be any of them," Nebenzia pointed out.
In August 2017, the administration of US President Donald Trump shut down the Russian Consulate General in San Francisco as well as Russian trade missions in Washington, DC and New York City.
Washington's decision came after Moscow announced that the diplomatic presence of the United States in Russia would be scaled down by 755 people to 455, the same number of diplomatic personnel Russia has in the United States, following the US expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats.
Last March, the United States also closed the Russian Consulate in Seattle over allegations of Moscow's involvement in the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom, though the Kremlin firmly denied the claims. The move left Russian residents on the US West coast with no diplomatic facilities nearby.
