The State Department said the US requires Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco and two annex buildings in Washington, DC and New York City, in response to the Kremlin’s decision to shrink the U.S. diplomatic mission in Russia.
Last month Moscow ordered the US to cut its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia by more than half, to 455 people, after Congress overwhelmingly approved new sanctions against Russia.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement: ”We believe this action was unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries.”
“In the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians, we are requiring the Russian Government to close its Consulate General in San Francisco, a chancery annex in Washington, DC, and a consular annex in New York City.
”These closures will need to be accomplished by September 2.”
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US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has spoken with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Mr Lavrov expressed regret about “tension escalation” over the consulate building.
It comes as tensions between Russia and the US ramp up with both nations technically on opposite sides of the North Korea crisis.
Relations between Moscow and Washington DC have been tested since President Donald Trump came to power.
The Kremlin has denied repeated allegations that Russia meddled in the US election with an investigation launched into the alleged hacking.
Russia is currently preparing to hold large-scale military exercises it says will be of a purely defensive nature, amid concerns in neighbouring nations that the drills may be used as a precursor for an invasion.
A total of around 12,700 servicemen will take part in the war games, code named Zapad 2017, which will be held on Sept. 14-20 in western Russia, Belarus and Russia’s exclave of Kaliningrad. These will include around 5,500 Russian troops.
Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, the US Army’s top general in Europe, told Reuters last month that US allies in eastern Europe and Ukraine were worried the exercises could be a “Trojan horse” aimed at leaving behind military equipment brought into Belarus.
This week Russia’s Defence Ministry rejected what it said were false allegations it might use the drills as a springboard to launch invasions of Poland, Lithuania or Ukraine.