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Strikes at the consulate in Vladivostok and operations in Yekaterinburg are being put to the test, CNN reports, citing a letter sent by Congress to the State Department last week.
The decision is described as “a response to the personnel challenges facing US diplomatic missions in Russia following Russian personnel restrictions imposed in 2017,” according to the letter. However, the news comes just days after the cyber attack on US authorities and private companies that highly vulnerable Republicans accused Russia of being behind. The Kremlin has denied its involvement.
If the consulate closes, the embassy in Moscow will be the only US mission in the country.
Relations between Washington and Moscow have grown increasingly cold during Donald Trump’s time in power. In 2018, the Kremlin ordered the closure of the US consulate in St. Petersburg and at the same time expelled 60 American diplomats. The move came in response to US deportations of Russian diplomats in the wake of the nerve agent attack on former Russian agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, UK.
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