Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to sue the United States over the latest diplomatic feud was dismissed out of hand by the State Department.
“We are confident in the legality of the actions we announced and carried out last week,” a senior State Department official said in a Tuesday statement to reporters.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson ordered the closure of three Russian facilities in the United States last week in response to Putin’s mandate that the State Department cut hundreds of staff in Russia. Putin’s team has fumed about the decision, while sending mixed messages about whether to continue the cycle of retaliation. But the Russian leader hinted at a third way on Tuesday.
“The United States stripped Russia of the right to use our property, which is a clear violation of Russia’s property rights,” Putin told reporters in China. “So, to begin with, I will ask our Foreign Ministry to file a lawsuit. We will see how effectively the much-lauded American judicial system works.”
Tillerson’s team required the Russians to close their consulate in San Francisco, leaving three others in operation, just as the United States has three consulates in Russia. That move was designed as a corollary to Putin’s decision that the United States must cap diplomatic personnel in Russia at 455 — the same number of Russians working stateside.
“The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations provides that consular posts are established only with the host state’s consent,” the State Department official said. “The United States has withdrawn its consent for Russia’s consular post in San Francisco. The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations does not prevent restrictions on location of Embassy buildings or annexes.”
Putin hinted at an alternative means of retaliating, saying that he might require the State Department to pull another 155 personnel out of Russia. “So, we reserve the right to take a new decision on the number of American diplomats in Moscow,” he said. “We will not do this immediately but will see how things develop.”
Both Russia and the U.S. are working to get the last word on the feud — which traces back to Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and then-President Barack Obama’s sanctions in response — without causing the other side to retaliate again. Putin argued that the removal of another 155 American staffers would still leave the two sides even, because some of the 455 Russians in the U.S. work at the United Nations.
“Strictly speaking, they are not diplomats accredited at the US Department of State but diplomats working at an international organization,” Putin said. “When the United States wanted the UN to be headquartered in New York, it pledged to properly ensure its operation.”
The State Department didn’t comment on that theory. “As we stated last week, we hope that we can avoid further retaliatory actions with Russia and move forward to achieve the stated goal of both of our presidents: improved relations between our two countries and increased cooperation on areas of mutual concern,” the senior official said. “For that reason, we will not speculate on any potential Russian retaliation.”
