MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The searches conducted by US security forces in Russia's diplomatic compounds in the country amount to an occupation, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Friday.
"We insist that any presence in these buildings and on this territory without the consent of the rightful owner is occupation. This term is relevant not only to major developments of a conflict nature, military actions, this term is quite applicable to what the United States has done, and we will insist on this, the United States has already been informed about it," Ryabkov said.
In late July, Moscow ordered that the US diplomatic presence in Russia be reduced to 455 people. This is the same number of diplomatic personnel that Russia has had in the United States since then US President Barack Obama's ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats in December 2016.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that US actions constituted a violation of international law, including the Vienna convention on diplomatic and consular relations. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, the searches were conducted by US security services, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which has been refuted by the US State Department.
