The State Department has informed Congress that it plans to close its last two consulates in Russia because of the caps set by Moscow on the number of diplomats authorized in the country.
In a letter to congressional leaders sent Dec. 10 and obtained by The Hill, the administration said it would permanently close its Vladivostok consulate and temporarily halt work at the consulate in Yekaterinburg.
The letter of confirmation of the closures was sent three days before news of a major hacking of U.S. government agencies that is believed to have been led by an elite Russian cyberespionage unit.
The closure of the consulate “responds to the ongoing staffing challenges of the U.S. mission to Russia as a result of the personnel limit imposed by Russia on the 2017 U.S. mission and the deadlock with Russia on diplomatic visas.” says the letter.
The Chairs of the House and Senate Allocation Committees, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee and some members of the House and Senate State Subcommittees, Foreign Operations and Programs related signed the letter.
The move means the U.S. embassy in Moscow will be the only diplomatic facility in Russia. It also leaves the U.S. without a diplomatic presence in a wide swath of Russian territory, making it difficult for both Americans ’efforts to travel to Russia and Russians to obtain U.S. visas.
Russia ordered the U.S. to close the embassy in St. Petersburg as part of a diplomatic row over intoxication by a former Russian spy in Britain by Moscow.
It was not immediately clear when the consulates will be closed, after which workers will be transferred to the Moscow embassy.
The reduction in the U.S. diplomatic presence in Russia is ahead of the expected cooling of relations between Washington and Moscow. While President Trump
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Laura Kelly contributed.