Moscow gave no permission to take down the
flags, Zakharova noted.
MOSCOW,
October 12. /TASS/. The removal of Russian flags from the Consulate General
in San Franciscoand the trade mission in Washingtonis the violation of a state symbol, Russian Foreign Ministry
Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
Russia’s
Embassy in the United States said earlier it had lodged a protest to the US
side over the removal of flags from the seized Russian diplomatic facilities on
Wednesday, and demanded the flags be immediately placed back.
"We view this as a desecration of Russia’s state symbol. We have already voiced a strong protest to the United States," Zakharova stressed. "Certainly, Russia gave no permission to take down the flags," she said, calling this "a hostile act of the US" against Russia’s diplomatic facilities.
"This
was done by the people, who earlier intruded Russia’s territory, broke open the
gates, the entry doors and since then have been bossing around there already
not as raiders but as occupants," the diplomat said.
The
diplomat slammed the US State Department’s statements that no one stripped
Russia of its right to the property as "flagrant hypocrisy," stressing
that the Russian staff members are not let there.
Over the past months, Russia’s representatives have been deprived of access to five Russian diplomatic facilities in the US, Zakharova said. "This has never been seen in the history of Russian-US relations."
"Besides
the apparent encroachment on the flags, the Americans make no secret of the
fact that they also rummaged through the papers left in the Consulate
General," the diplomat said. "And that’s despite the fact that the
consular archives enjoy immunity under the bilateral Consular Convention.
They enjoy
immunity always and everywhere even after the consulate halts its
activity," she said.
On
September, 3 the United States closed down Russia’s trade mission in
Washington and its branch in New York and also demanded curtailing the activity
of Russia’s consulate-general in San Francisco and vacating the residence of
consul-general in that city in California.
The US
authorities set October 1 as the deadline for the staff of the
consulate-general in San Francisco to pack their bags.
The US
Administration believes that the diplomatic immunity has been lifted from these
facilities. In the meantime, they still remain Russian property except for the
office of the trade mission in New York, which was used under a lease contract.
On
Wednesday Russian flags were removed from the Russian trade mission in
Washington and the building of the consulate-general in San Francisco,
California.
Source: ITAR-TASS 12-10-2017
