Russia Demands Immediate Return of Seized Diplomatic Sites Russian officials today confirmed that the ongoing talks with the Trump Administration aimed at securing the return of a pair of seized diplomatic compounds in the Eastern United States has failed, and that the government is ready to retaliate against the US diplomatic corps over the seizures.
The Obama Administration seized the compounds back in December, supposedly to punish Russia for hacking the election. President Putin announced at the time he was not going to retaliate, waiting to see what the incoming Trump Administration would do.
The assumption was that Trump would give back the compounds, popular vacation spots of Russian diplomats. The US, however, has conditioned this on Russia making concessions, which Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has presented as tantamount to robbery.
It’s not surprising Russia sees it that way. After all, the compounds were legally purchased, and seized by the US without any due process. Russian officials have been warning increasingly that their patience for the return of the compounds is wearing thin, and it seems that the US may soon find itself facing retaliatory expulsions or other measures over the matter.