WASHINGTON: Russia on Friday promised a “tough response” to a US order to shut the Russian consulate in San Francisco and offices in Washington and New York, the latest round in a diplomatic tit-for-tat.

The US issued its order on Thursday and gave Russia 48 hours to comply, intensifying tensions between the two countries.

President Donald Trump’s administration described its action as retaliation for the Kremlin’s “unwarranted and detrimental” demand earlier this month that the US cut its diplomatic staff in Russia.

“The United States is prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. Still, she said the US hoped both countries could now move toward “improved relations” and “increased cooperation.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday that Moscow will reply with firmness but still must decide on the precise response.

“We will have a tough response to the things that come totally out of the blue to hurt us and are driven solely by the desire to spoil our relations with the United States,” he said in a televised meeting with students at Russia’s top diplomacy school.

American officials argued that Russia should refrain from retaliation, noting that Moscow’s ordering of US diplomatic cuts was premised on bringing the two countries’ diplomatic presences into “parity.” “The United States hopes that, having moved toward the Russian Federation’s desire for parity, we can avoid further retaliatory actions by both sides,” the State Department’s Nauert said.

Both countries now maintain three consulates on each other’s territory and ostensibly similar numbers of diplomats. Exact numbers are difficult to independently verify.

Lavrov on Friday also defended Trump, saying that the new package of sanctions against Russia that Congress adopted last month not only hits Russia but also is designed to “tie Trump’s hands, not let him use his constitutional powers to the full to make foreign policy.”

Several hours after the US announcement, new Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov arrived in Washington to start his new posting.

At the airport, Antonov cited a maxim of former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin as he urged caution and professionalism.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2017