The United States and Russia are currently discussing increasing the number of staff in their respective embassies back to previous levels, the nominee for US Ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, said in his confirmation hearing on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th October, 2019) The United States and Russia are currently discussing increasing the number of staff in their respective embassies back to previous levels, the nominee for US Ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, said in his confirmation hearing on Wednesday."We have an ongoing discussion with the Russian Foreign Ministry on these issues," Sullivan told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Sullivan explained the US government has no plans to reopen the Russian consulate in San Francisco that it closed in August 2017.
The US government also closed two other Russian diplomatic properties in Washington and New York City.
Washington's decision to close the Russian diplomatic facilities came after Moscow announced it would scale down the US diplomatic presence in Russia from 755 people to 455 - the same number of diplomatic personnel Russia has in the United States.
Former US President Barack Obama had previously ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats over claims of Russian interference in the 2016 US election.
Russian officials have repeatedly denied the US allegations regarding election interference, saying the claims are absurd and made up to excuse the election loss of a presidential candidate as well as to deflect public opinion from actual instances of election fraud and corruption.
In March 2018, the United States also closed the Russian Consulate in Seattle amid allegations of Moscow's involvement in the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the United Kingdom.
Russian officials denied the allegations, saying the United Kingdom has not provided any evidence proving Russia's alleged role in the poisoning nor cooperated to jointly investigate the incident as per international law.
