Workers clear out of Russian consulate in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO — Acrid, black smoke was seen pouring from a chimney at the Russian consulate in San Francisco and workers began hauling boxes out of the stately building in a historic area of the city Friday, a day after the Trump administration ordered its closure amid escalating tensions between the United States and Russia.
The workers were hurrying to shut Russia’s oldest consulate in the U.S. ahead of a Saturday deadline.
The order to leave the consulate and an official diplomatic residence in San Francisco — home to a longstanding community of Russian emigres and technology workers — escalated an already tense diplomatic standoff between Washington and Moscow, even for those who have long monitored activities inside the closely monitored building.
“There is finally the realization by the administration that Russians have been involved in intelligence operations at this consulate, which they have been doing for decades,” said Rick Smith, a veteran FBI special agent who previously headed the bureau’s Russian counterintelligence squad in San Francisco. “It’s almost 50 years of history and part of a tit-for-tat, but this is more like a hammer.”