US wanted Russian diplomats back
All Russian diplomats deported from the United States returned to their homeland on April 1 with their families. The Consulate General of Russia in Seattle is closed, all things and documents were taken out of there. But, as it turned out, the question itself is not completely closed.
The US State Department turned to Moscow with a proposal: to send other diplomats instead of those who were sent in connection with the incident in British Salisbury. This process is mutual: in this case, the United States will also restore the size of its diplomatic mission, which has decreased after a mirror response from the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The TASS agency quotes the words of the representative of the US Department of State:
He added that Russia did not inform Washington about the desire to reduce the total number of employees of the American diplomatic mission. Thus, we are talking about the fact that the parties are sending new employees in return for those who were forced to leave their jobs because of the notorious “Skripal case”.
The decision to expel Russian diplomats to the United States was taken on March 26, the day that many European states took similar steps under pressure from Britain. Although until recently, many in Russia had the hope that Donald Trump would show sobriety and would not go to a sharp deterioration in relations with Russia. For its part, Russia sent 58 employees of the American embassy in Moscow and two representatives of the US Consulate General in Yekaterinburg.
Among the measures taken by the United States, there is one to which Moscow cannot respond "in the mirror." After all, Washington declared persona non grata not only 46 employees of the embassy and two employees of the Consulate General in New York, but also 12 representatives of the Russian mission to the UN. This is an interference in the affairs of the main international organization and an abuse of the fact that the UN headquarters is located in the United States.
Now the United States is partially backtracking, offering to replace all the deported diplomats with other people. Perhaps the White House understood what Russia was talking about from the very beginning: a constructive dialogue between the two countries is necessary, and such a demonstrative action on March 26 harms the States themselves. It is possible that some softening of the State Department’s position is also connected with the fact that in Britain it was not possible to prove the Russian origin of the substance by which Sergey and Julia Skripali were poisoned.
However, there is one caveat: if Russia agrees, Washington intends to consider requests for the accreditation of new diplomats “individually”. Russian political scientist Grigory Trofimchuk on Sputnik radio sees this as a definite catch. He believes that words do not always coincide with real intentions. Trofimchuk recalled that the United States did not issue visas to the Russian freestyle wrestling team, which was supposed to participate in the World Cup.
- the political scientist specified.
There is one more thing. On CNN, Richard Haas, head of the Council on Foreign Relations, expressed the view that the measures taken against Russia put the United States at a disadvantage because Western intelligence officers were expelled from Moscow. Haas proposed a different approach: take measures against Russia in economic sphere to which Moscow could not answer in a mirror.
It cannot be ruled out that such an approach could be adopted by the White House. So do not flatter yourself even about those gestures of Washington that look like an attempt to reconcile after the aggravation of relations from scratch (which is the Skripals case).
The US State Department turned to Moscow with a proposal: to send other diplomats instead of those who were sent in connection with the incident in British Salisbury. This process is mutual: in this case, the United States will also restore the size of its diplomatic mission, which has decreased after a mirror response from the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The TASS agency quotes the words of the representative of the US Department of State:
As with other similar incidents in the past, the Russian government is entitled to request accreditation to fill vacant positions in its diplomatic mission
He added that Russia did not inform Washington about the desire to reduce the total number of employees of the American diplomatic mission. Thus, we are talking about the fact that the parties are sending new employees in return for those who were forced to leave their jobs because of the notorious “Skripal case”.
The decision to expel Russian diplomats to the United States was taken on March 26, the day that many European states took similar steps under pressure from Britain. Although until recently, many in Russia had the hope that Donald Trump would show sobriety and would not go to a sharp deterioration in relations with Russia. For its part, Russia sent 58 employees of the American embassy in Moscow and two representatives of the US Consulate General in Yekaterinburg.
Among the measures taken by the United States, there is one to which Moscow cannot respond "in the mirror." After all, Washington declared persona non grata not only 46 employees of the embassy and two employees of the Consulate General in New York, but also 12 representatives of the Russian mission to the UN. This is an interference in the affairs of the main international organization and an abuse of the fact that the UN headquarters is located in the United States.
Now the United States is partially backtracking, offering to replace all the deported diplomats with other people. Perhaps the White House understood what Russia was talking about from the very beginning: a constructive dialogue between the two countries is necessary, and such a demonstrative action on March 26 harms the States themselves. It is possible that some softening of the State Department’s position is also connected with the fact that in Britain it was not possible to prove the Russian origin of the substance by which Sergey and Julia Skripali were poisoned.
However, there is one caveat: if Russia agrees, Washington intends to consider requests for the accreditation of new diplomats “individually”. Russian political scientist Grigory Trofimchuk on Sputnik radio sees this as a definite catch. He believes that words do not always coincide with real intentions. Trofimchuk recalled that the United States did not issue visas to the Russian freestyle wrestling team, which was supposed to participate in the World Cup.
The American side will check every Russian diplomat an order of magnitude tougher than the athlete. Therefore, so far, apart from rhetoric, against this background from the USA we do not see anything
- the political scientist specified.
There is one more thing. On CNN, Richard Haas, head of the Council on Foreign Relations, expressed the view that the measures taken against Russia put the United States at a disadvantage because Western intelligence officers were expelled from Moscow. Haas proposed a different approach: take measures against Russia in economic sphere to which Moscow could not answer in a mirror.
It cannot be ruled out that such an approach could be adopted by the White House. So do not flatter yourself even about those gestures of Washington that look like an attempt to reconcile after the aggravation of relations from scratch (which is the Skripals case).
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