WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has notified Congress that it intends to shutter the last two remaining U.S. consulates in Russia.
The State Department told lawmakers last week that it would permanently close the consulate in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok and temporarily suspend operations at the consulate in Yekaterinburg just east of the Ural Mountains.
The notice was sent to Congress on Dec. 10 but received little attention at the time.That timing predates by three days the public emergence of news about a major suspected Russian computer intrusion into U.S.