MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th October, 2019) Russia and the United States must be ready to normalize the work of each other's diplomatic missions, with Moscow being ready to do that on the basis of the "zero option," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Sunday.
He blamed the administration of former US President Barack Obama for the current problems in the work of the diplomatic missions.
"[Moscow] is ready at any moment to resolve all the issues at the basis of the 'zero option' and return to the normal operation of our diplomatic facilities," Lavrov told the Rossiya 1 broadcaster.
The minister pointed out that he had already discussed the issue with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
"I think they understand that one day we must return to that. The earlier, the best," Lavrov added.
In August 2017, the administration of US President Donald Trump shut down the Russian Consulate General in San Francisco as well as the 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. Former President Barack Obama had ordered the expulsion of the Russian diplomats in December 2016 over claims of Russian interference in the US election, allegations that Moscow firmly denies.
In March 2018, the United States also closed the Russian Consulate in Seattle amid 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.
