Trump administration to return seized Russian compounds
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The Trump administration is moving toward handing back to Russia two diplomatic compounds, near New York City and on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, that its officials were ejected from in late December as punishment for Moscow’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Russia said it used the facilities, both of which had diplomatic immunity, for rest and recreation for embassy and U.N. employees and to hold official events. But U.S. officials dating to the Reagan administration, based on aerial and other surveillance, had long believed they were also being used for intelligence purposes.
Last year, when Russian security services began harassing U.S. officials in Moscow — including slashed tires, home break-ins, and, at one point, tackling and throwing to the ground a U.S. embassy official entering through the front of the embassy — the Obama administration threatened to close the compounds, former Obama officials said.
The threat of closing the compounds was not pursued. In late December, after U.S. intelligence said there had been election meddling, and in response to the ongoing harassment in Moscow, Obama ordered the compounds closed and diplomats expelled. “We had no intention of ever giving them back,” a former senior Obama official said of the compounds.
From last week:
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The Putin Puppet in Chief is really asking for an impeachment.
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The Putin Puppet in Chief is really asking for an impeachment.
HOW? For not obeying Obama?
The White House is starting to sound like a college campus.
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I was referring to when blacks (Obama, in this case) say something, whites (Trump) must obey or there's a shit storm and threats of violence.
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I majored in International Affairs and have my law degree. He's got no choice but to return these properties. It's one thing to revoke diplomatic immunity; it's another entire matter to seize diplomatic property. Russian consulates, embassies, and general diplomatic missions, regardless of the fact they're in the United States are Russian Property and fall under all Russian laws.
Having went to college in DC, it's why us underage college kids used to love the Russian Embassy on Halloween. All the kids from GW & Georgetown would line up outside the gate to walk through to get our free shots of vodka, which was perfectly legal because on Russian territory, the drinking age wasn't 21.
Essentially, seizing a diplomatic outpost is considered a hostile act, even an act of war under diplomatic protocol. Putin opted not to respond to Obama's taunt because he figured Obama was going to be out soon enough, but if they're not returned, he's going to pick the best American real estate in Russia and return the favor. This is a suck it up buttercup moment, nothing conspiratorial.
