MOSCOW: Russia said on Friday the FBI planned to carry out a search of its San Francisco consulate, which Washington has ordered closed along with two other facilities as part of a diplomatic slugging match between the two powers. Washington ordered on Thursday that the facility and two others be shutdown by Saturday in a retaliatory move after the Kremlin demanded the US slash staff numbers at its Russian diplomatic missions. “We are talking about invasion into a consulate and the accommodations of diplomatic staff,” Zakharova said. San Francisco fire department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge told AFP that consulate employees “must be” in the middle of burning unknown items. The West slapped punishing sanctions on Russia over its meddling in its ex-Soviet neighbour, sparking a revenge embargo from Moscow against agricultural products.

Source: Manila Times September 01, 2017 23:15 UTC