WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The Russian Embassy in the United States issued photos and footage proving the US intrusion in the closed Russia's Consulate General in San Francisco.
On Monday, the US Department of State confirmed to Sputnik that the United States carried out a walkthrough at the Consulate General in San Francisco "to secure the residential portions of the buildings and confirm that all residents had left the premises." On Tuesday, US Department of State spokesperson Heather Nauert said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) did not take part in the walkthrough and that the locks had not been broken.
"To learn where & when 'they did't break locks, just walked through, looked' follow @MFA_Russia," the Russian Embassy wrote on its Twitter on late Tuesday.
To learn where & when "they did't break locks, just walked through, looked🔄" (@statedeptspox) follow @MFA_Russia
— Russia in USA 🇷🇺 (@RusEmbUSA) October 4, 2017
➡️https://t.co/Aaoyg64XWF pic.twitter.com/QqKnT1Y1mb
After breaking Russian diplomatic property's gates lock, the intruders got inside pic.twitter.com/Y5Z5LbjCli
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) October 2, 2017
Finally, Russian diplomatic property's gates are broke open pic.twitter.com/Adx1BTRwtc
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) October 2, 2017
"To emphasize once again, we have not given the US authorities our consent to the lifting of immunity from our diplomatic and consular property, nor do we permit the invasion of our buildings. Nobody has invited US agents to be there. They are intruders. Their actions are outrageous and unprecedented in the history of bilateral relations," the Embassy said via Storify.
The Embassy added that the US actions violated the international law and voiced the protest against the intrusion in the closed consulate.
Tensions in Russian-US relations escalated after the United States accused Russia of interfering in the 2016 US presidential election. Moscow has repeatedly denied all accusations on the matter.
