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The closures would leave the embassy in Moscow as the last US diplomatic mission in Russia.
FILE: United States President Donald Trump and his top advisers in the Oval Office. Image: AFP
WASHINGTON – The outgoing Donald Trump administration plans to close the two remaining US consulates in Russia, media reports said on Friday, as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office amid high tensions with Moscow.
The United States will close its consulate in the far eastern city of Vladivostok and suspend operations at its post in Yekaterinburg, CNN reported, citing a letter sent to Congress on Dec. 10 from the State Department.
The move comes in “response to ongoing staffing challenges for the US Mission to Russia in the wake of the 2017 Russian staff cap on the US Mission and the resulting deadlock with Russia on diplomatic visas,” the report said, citing the letter.
Ten diplomats assigned to consulates will reportedly be relocated to the US embassy in Moscow, while 33 local employees will lose their jobs.
“No action is planned related to the Russian consulates in the United States,” CNN quoted the letter as saying.
The closures would leave the embassy in Moscow as the last US diplomatic mission in Russia.
In March 2018, Moscow ordered the closure of the US consulate in St. Petersburg amid a diplomatic dispute sparked by the poisoning of Sergei Skripal on British soil.
It was unclear if the closures would occur before Jan.20, when President-elect Biden takes office.
AFP contacted the State Department for comment on the report, but received no response.
On Friday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Russia was “quite clearly” behind a devastating cyber attack on several US government agencies that security experts say could allow attackers unrestricted access to critical IT systems. and electrical networks.
Yohannes Abraham, executive director of Biden’s transition team, said the attack was “of great concern” and that under the new administration cyberattacks would find a response that would inflict “substantial cost.”
Russia has denied any involvement in the cyber attacks.
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