The Trump government has had many misunderstandings with Moscow lately, thus, the US has ordered the Kremlin to close its Consulate in San Francisco. Russia will also have to close two annexes, one in New York and the other in Washington. The action by the US government is a response to the measures taken by Moscow. The Putin government decided to reduce the American diplomatic staff in Russia. These measures were taken by Moscow because the US had punished Russia with sanctions because of the crisis in Crimea. The US government has also complained about an alleged Russian interference in the elections of the United States.
This diplomatic crisis began when Barack Obama was the US President. In theory, the relationships were going to improve once that Donald Trump becomes the US President.
Barack Obama disliked the Russian behavior
US President Barack Obama ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats, and also the closure of Russian compounds in America last December. Vladimir Putin did not react at first to that move by Obama, the Russian head of state was waiting for Donald Trump to become the US President, it was supposed that relationships were going to improve. This was a false expectation, thus, on July 31 Putin announced the expulsion of 755 US diplomats, as a revenge for the US economic sanctions. The American diplomats have until Friday to leave Russia, one day before the closures of the Russian Consulate and its annexes.
A downward spiral in diplomatic relationships
The US State Department declared that the actions taken were an answer to the Russian behavior, and blamed Moscow for the deterioration of the diplomatic relationships. The US State Department declared that it has allowed the Russian government to keep some of its annexes with the purpose that bilateral relationships improve in the future, but Moscow won't be able to use them.
The American government wants no more retaliatory actions and wants to cooperate more with the Putin government. This diplomatic crisis has worsened lately, both countries attack each other.
Sergei Lavrov on the diplomatic crisis
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, talked with the US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, about the crisis.
The Russian official expressed his regret at the escalation of misunderstandings between Moscow and Washington. Rex Tillerson and Sergei Lavrov will meet in September at the UN General Assembly in New York.
