Kosachev warns against any ‘deal-making’ for Russian diplomatic property in US

The US administration should return Russia’s diplomatic property on the US territory, while any deals and exchanges are unacceptable, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council Committee for Foreign Affairs, Konstantin Kosachev, wrote on Facebook.

"The compounds should be returned the sooner the better. There should be no games, deals or exchanges concerning the matter," Kosachev said. In his opinion, the senators’ message to Trump "is scandalous as legislators in the country which boasts of its commitment to law, openly call on their head of state to violate international law."

"I do not know how the seizure of diplomatic property, protected by international conventions, could help the world’s democracies, but it is obvious that is has greatly damaged Washington’s reputation as a responsible participant to those convention," TASS cited the Russian senator as saying.

Earlier three US senators called on the country’s President Donald Trump to refrain from returning Russia’s diplomatic property - two compounds in New York and Maryland - seized by the Obama administration in 2016 in response to alleged Russian election meddling.