"US special services are intending to search the San Francisco Consulate General on September 2, including apartments of the staff members who live in the building and have immunity," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, adding that the diplomats were told to leave the premises for 10-12 hours. "This is an intrusion into a consul's establishment and homes of diplomatic staff, while they are told to leave so that they are not in the way of FBI agents."
Commenting on the closure of Russia's diplomatic facilities in the US, Zakharova said Washington's move "represents a new gross violation of international law, including US obligations under the Vienna Conventions on diplomatic and consular relations."
The United States demanded on Thursday that Russia shut down its Consulate General in San Francisco and two other diplomatic entities in New York City and Washington, DC by September 2.
The move was the latest in a series of tit-for-tat moves between the United States and Russia that began over allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, accusations that the Kremlin has repeatedly denied.
