Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed outrage today as, continuing to seek the return of diplomatic facilities seized by the Obama Administration back in December, he keeps running into US officials setting preconditions for any such return.
Lavrov said the preconditions on returning the two sites, in New York and Maryland, amounts to “daylight robbery,” and that Russia considered such demands unacceptable for something as simple as recovering two sites they legally purchased decades prior.
Kremlin officials were also pushing for the return of the properties ahead of a new round of talks between diplomats, saying that the Trump Administration needs to display some “political wisdom” during this next round of talks.
That’s not exactly in the administration’s political wheelhouse to begin with, and returning Russia’s property to Russia is likely to prove so politically controversial within the US that the administration will continue to delay doing so. The longer this drags on, however, the more pressure Russia’s own government will be under to make good on threats of retaliatory actions against the US diplomatic corps in Moscow.
“Give something in return” for stolen property? Really? Are Russia expected to pay ransom for it’s citizens kidnapped by Russia, Bout & Yaroshenko most notably as well?
It’s the same US gangsterism as with the previous regime. Russia should just expel 35, no 50 US spies , confiscate their property and kidnap some yanks from anywhere the world in exchange for the kidnapped Russians in US dungeons. Tit for tat , and btw bump off some US officials in retaliation for those 7 Russians killed and “heart attacked” in less than 6 months, incl, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin by the US fascist regime.
This will not create an ideal relation but nothing else will, it’s the only language the US cowards understands.
Yeah, tit for tat can be the solution in some of these real estate thefts. But bumping people off is another story… From my point of view these heart attack classes are not as simple as confiscations where all the players are known: The former owners and the party that took it. Homicides are far far more complicated. Not only is the cause of death, especially is espionage, problematic to establish, but even when the cause of death is easy, the party responsible can be almost impossible.
Better to err on the side of life in these irrevocable situations…
“for it’s citizens kidnapped by the US, Bout & Yaroshenko”
A stranger got on the Antiwar sile and made the comment that we were a very anti American site . We did give back what we confiscated from Iran .plus we paid them interest too . I guess our whole perspective is based on what we know or what we think we know . Remember we are not hurt so much by what we do not know As by what we know that is not so . In my best judgement Anti war comments are most often very well informed people . For sure we can’t be wrong to be opposed to war . .
Russia is not an enemy of the U.S., but the U.S. is an enemy of Russia.
Trump needs to abolish these “preconditions” for returning to Russia what belongs to Russia.