Furious Vladimir Putin seizes US property in Russia and orders Trump to cut diplomatic staff as sanctions row heats up
The Kremlin has given the Americans one month to reduce the number of government workers in the country to 455, the number they claim they have in the States
VLADIMIR Putin has ordered the US to slash the number diplomats in Russia and will seize two properties as relations hit a new post Cold War low.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the move was a response to the US Senates approval of new package of stiff financial sanctions against the country, giving them a month to get out.
The bill, which also includes sanctions against North Korea and Iran, is currently waiting to be signed into law or vetoed by President Trump.
The Kremlin has also said it is going to seize a number of properties from the US State Department including the embassy's recreational retreat on the outskirts of Moscow.
If Trump agrees to the bill he would be barred from easing or waiving the penalties on Russia unless Congress agrees.
The legislation is aimed at punishing Moscow for interfering in the 2016 presidential election and for its military aggression in Ukraine and Syria, where the Kremlin has backed President Bashar Assad.
Putin had warned on Thursday that Russia had so far exercised restraint, but would have to retaliate against what he described as boorish and unreasonable U.S. behaviour.
Relations between the two countries have deteriorated even further after U.S. intelligence agencies accused Russia of trying to meddle in last year's U.S. presidential election, something Moscow flatly denies.
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The Russian Foreign Ministry said today that the United States had until September 1 to reduce its diplomatic staff in Russia to 455 people, the same number of Russian diplomats it said were left in the United States after Washington expelled 35 Russians in December.
It said in a statement that the decision by Congress to impose new sanctions confirmed "the extreme aggression of the United States in international affairs."
"Hiding behind its 'exceptionalism' the United States arrogantly ignores the positions and interests of other countries," said the ministry.
"Under the absolutely invented pretext of Russian interference in their domestic affairs the United States is aggressively pushing forward, one after another, crude anti-Russian actions. This all runs counter to the principles of international law."
It was not immediately clear how many U.S. diplomats and other workers would be forced to leave the country.
An official at the U.S. embassy in Moscow, who declined to be named because they were not allowed to speak to the media, said there were around 1,100 U.S. diplomatic staff in Russia.
That included Russian citizens and U.S. citizens.
Most staff, including around 300 U.S. citizens, work in the main embassy in Moscow with others based in outlying consulates.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was also seizing a Moscow dacha compound used by U.S. diplomats to relax from August 1 as well as a U.S. diplomatic warehouse in Moscow.
The outgoing Obama administration seized two Russian diplomatic compounds - one in New York and another in Maryland - at the same time as it expelled the Russian diplomats in December.
The Russian Foreign Ministry warned it would respond in kind if Washington decided to expel any Russian diplomats.
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