SAN FRANCISCO (Sputnik) — Russian ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said that he was able to view from outside the seized diplomatic properties in San Francisco, California and is determined to do his best to return.
"Today I visited a compound… I looked at my building, my building because it's a Russian building, still it's a Russian property," Antonov Said during a meeting with Stanford University students on Friday. "Then I visited compound around building where my Consul General was living."
When asked whether there were any obstacles while he was looking at the diplomatic property seized by the US authorities, Antonov told Sputnik "No."
The Russian ambassador has also visited the office of Russia's state-owned technology company RUSNANO, which implements the government's policy in the development of nanotechnologies in Russia in the US state of California and met with the students at the Stanford University, where he also talked to former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul.
McFaul's Reveals His Position on Seizure of Russia's Diplomatic Property
As former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul told Sputnik, the United States should provide an explanation to Russia for its decisions to seize Russian diplomatic property.
On September 2, the United States shut down Russia's Consulate General in San Francisco and trade missions in New York City and in Washington, DC. US officials said the move came in response to Moscow's earlier offer to Washington to reduce the number of US diplomatic staff in Russia to 455 people, the same number of diplomatic personnel Russia has in the United States. The US security services subsequently entered the premises to perform searches.
Russia said that such actions constituted a violation of international law, including the Vienna convention on diplomatic and consular relations, and pledged to sue the US authorities.
