Trump White House Reportedly Proceeding To Reverse Obama-Era Punishment of Russia

The Trump White House is reportedly seriously considering allowing Russia to resume its use of two diplomatic facilities that were shuttered during the final weeks of the Obama administration in December 2016.

According to a Wednesday evening report from The Washington Post, the administration indicated to the Russian government in April 2017 that “it would consider turning the properties,” which are located on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and on New York’s Long Island, “back over to them if Moscow would lift its freeze…on construction of a new U.S. consulate on a certain parcel of land in St. Petersburg.”

The United States government’s position apparently changed less than a week later, according to the newspaper’s unnamed sources, as “Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at a meeting in Washington, that the United States had dropped any linkage between the compounds and the consulate.”

However, a senior aide to the top American diplomat downplayed any possible agreement to resolve the diplomatic impasse.

“The U.S. and Russia have reached no agreements,” Tillerson communications adviser R.C. Hammond said.

The Post‘s report outlined that “the administration is examining possible restrictions on Russian activities there, including removing the diplomatic immunity the properties previously enjoyed.”

The Obama administration had accused Russia of using the Maryland and New York facilities for “intelligence-related purposes.” They gave the foreign government 24 hours to evacuate both compounds, “as punishment for Moscow’s interference in the 2016 presidential election,” according to the newspaper’s article.

[image via screengrab]