Russia Retaliates: Orders U.S. To Cut Diplomatic Staff, Seizes Two Compounds

Just hours after the Senate overwhelmingly voted to enforce further sanctions against (mostly) Russia, North Korea and Iran, while binding Trump from undoing any measures against Moscow without Congressional approval, in the process infuriating not only the Kremlin but America’s European allies, with Brussels warning repeatedly it will have no choice but to respond in kind, on Friday morning Russia’s Foreign Ministry ordered the United States to cut its diplomatic staff to 455 by Sept. 1 and said it was seizing a dacha compound used as a retreat as well as a warehouse used by US diplomats in retaliation for new U. S. sanctions against Moscow.
The move is ‘linked to the passing of the new law on sanctions,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells reporters on conference call, explaining that Russia acted before law signed by President Donald Trump because the form of legislation unlikely to change.
‘The Russian side is suspending the use of all storage facilities on Dorozhnaya Street in Moscow, and a cottage in Serebryaniy Bor by the US Embassy in Russia as of August 1,’ the ministry said in a statement.

This post was published at Zero Hedge on Jul 28, 2017.