According to a report by Russia Today, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has spoken to his American counterpart Rex Tillerson on Tuesday to protest against seizures of Russian diplomatic properties in The United States and to inform that Russian has begun legal proceedings. On 31st August U.S. announced seizing of several Russian diplomatic buildings in the United States including one in San Francisco, and New York in response to Russia’s action to expel as many as 755 U.S. diplomats from the country. However, Russia’s action to expel many diplomats and bring down the numbers of active U.S. diplomats in the country in line with the numbers of Russian diplomats working in the United States was a deferred one and was in response to President Barrack Obama’s expelling of 35 Russia diplomats from the United States and seizing of two Russian diplomatic properties back in December and came only after U.S. imposed new sanctions against the country. In the latest move, Russia was given just two days to clear out diplomatic properties before they were seized on September 2nd.

In a statement released, Russian foreign ministry said, ““When discussing international relations, Lavrov pointed out that the seizure of Russian diplomatic property on US soil was a flagrant violation of international norms…….The minister drew the secretary of state's attention to the words of Vladimir Putin during the BRICS summit in Xiamen, China about Russia’s intention to use legal means to fight back against Washington’s illegal actions.”

During BRICS summit in China, President Putin said, “The American decision to deprive Russia of the use of its property is an obvious violation of Russia’s property rights…..Let’s see how well the much-praised American legal system works in practice.”

After which, President Putin’s press secretary Dimitry Peskov said that Russia was open to filing its lawsuit with whichever court best gave it a chance of defending its interests. Russia accuses the United States of violating international laws and agreement reached in Vienna convention.