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US closure of Russian posts violates Vienna Convention: Analyst

Tuesday, 05 September 2017 5:31 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 05 September 2017 6:09 PM ]

Joe lauria

Washington’s actions towards Russian diplomatic facilities in the United States is a violation of the Vienna Convention and present a “diplomatic crisis,” an author and independent journalist in New York says.

“This is a very serious diplomatic crisis right now,” said Joe Lauria, a former correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and the Boston Globe.

The 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations defines the privileges of a diplomatic mission that enables diplomats to perform their function without fear of coercion or harassment by the host country.

“The United States took an extraordinary, unprecedented move to not only expel diplomats…but to actually, literally invade the diplomatic property, the actual sovereign territory of Russia,” Lauria told Press TV on Monday.

“So we have lots of reasons to be concerned about where this would lead,” he added.

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US officials seized three Russian diplomatic posts in New York, Washington, DC, and San Francisco on Saturday after the White House ordered the occupants to leave within 48 hours.

The move to shut down Russia's diplomatic facilities came in retaliation for Moscow’s decision last month to significantly reduce American diplomatic staff in Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday Moscow reserves the right to further cut the number of American diplomatic staff in his country.

The diplomatic standoff between the two sides first broke out last December, when the outgoing US administration expelled 35 Russian diplomats in retaliation for yet unsubstantiated Russian interference in the US electoral process.

On Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov described the latest US measures against Moscow’s facilities as “state hooliganism.”

Moscow did not respond in kind back then, reportedly for having received signals that the incoming administration of President Donald Trump would be more favorable towards Russia.

Trump has been perceived as open toward warmer relations with Russia, but the US Congress has slapped more sanctions on Russia over the alleged election interference, prompting Moscow to order a 60-percent cut in the number of US diplomatic staff last month.

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