Russia threatens retaliation against U.S. over seized diplomatic compounds

Russia will retaliate against the U.S. unless Washington returns property seized by the Obama administration and reinstates their diplomatic immunity status, Moscow warned Friday.

Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, formalized the warning in a statement Friday amid recent reports involving the two properties — a compound on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and another on Long Island, both seized by former President Obama in late 2016 over Moscow’s purported involvement in last year’s White House race.

“Russia’s position on the confiscated Russian property is clear,” Ms. Zakharova said Friday. “We consider the U.S. authorities’ actions unacceptable, as they grossly violate the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961. We demand the immediate return of that which was taken away from us in the completely unlawful manner.”

“Notably, if Washington fails to restore the diplomatic immunity of our property, our response regarding U.S. property in Russia will be identical,” she added.

Diplomatic sources in Russia, meanwhile, said Friday that the Kremlin was considering altering the legal status of an Anglo-American school in Moscow and potentially seizing U.S. diplomatic property there as well if Washington doesn’t return the Maryland and New York compounds by July, reported Kommersant, a Russian business broadsheet.

Moscow’s warning this week comes amid recent news reports involving the compounds and their rumored return to Russia under President Trump, potentially reversing sanctions imposed by his predecessor and currently supported by Republicans and Democrats alike.

Mr. Obama seized the two facilities in December in tandem with ordering the expulsion of 35 Russians in connection with the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Moscow meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential race, but the Trump administration has reportedly considered return the compounds in recent weeks.

“Those discussions are ongoing,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert acknowledged Thursday. “That is one of the issues, the dachas, that remains an irritant and something that they have certainly asked us to address,” she added, using a Russian word for summer homes.

Congress isn’t entirely on board with the rumored return, however. A bipartisan group of senators wrote in a letter to the Trump administration Wednesday urging the White House to leave Mr. Obama’s decision intact, and Rep. Bill Pascrell, New Jersey Democrat, introduced legislation in the House on Wednesday requiring a congressional review before any compounds are returned to Russia.

The Obama administration announced a week after seizing the compounds that Russia had interfered in the 2016 White House race by deploying state-sponsored hackers and its government-run propaganda apparatus against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Testifying on the matter Thursday this week, former FBI Director James Comey said he had “no doubt” Russia interfered in last year’s race.

“It makes no sense to give these facilities back without assurances that these properties were not used by Russian personnel for intelligence-related purposes,” Mr. Pascrell said while introducing his proposal this week, the No Russian Diplomatic Access to Compounds Here in America Act.

“While investigations trying to answer that very question are still ongoing, returning these compounds to Russia is premature at best and foolish at worst,” he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly denied the hacking allegations, but recently admitted the cyberattacks may have been waged by individuals with “patriotic leanings.”