A bipartisan group of senators is urging President Trump not to return to Russia a pair of compounds in the U.S. seized under the Obama administration.
Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) and GOP Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Johnny Isakson (Ga.) outlined their request in a letter sent to Trump ahead of his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.
“The return of these two facilities to Russia while the Kremlin refuses to address its influence campaign against the United States would embolden President Vladimir Putin and invite a dangerous escalation in the Kremlin’s destabilizing actions against democracies worldwide,” the senators wrote in the letter, sent on Thursday.
The compounds, in New York and Maryland, were seized last year in response to Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The Obama administration also expelled 35 Russian diplomats.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sidestepped a question from Shaheen during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing last month about whether the compounds were part of U.S.-Russia discussions.
Pointing to Tillerson’s comments, the senators said they had “deep concern” about the future of the compounds.
“We urge you to remove the return of these facilities from any negotiation or consideration in your discussions with President Putin during your upcoming trip,” they senators wrote.
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The senators added that while they understood the administration wants greater cooperation with Russia, they could not support a deal that would “enhance the Kremlin’s intelligence gathering capabilities or overturn actions taken in defense of U.S. officials threatened by Russian officials overseas.”
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Senators demand Trump not return seized compounds to Russia https://t.co/vuKsoyStcu pic.twitter.com/S3NZPubCjE
— The Hill (@thehill) July 7, 2017
Bipartisan letter from Shaheen, Rubio, Isakson urges Trump not to return Russian compounds—warns of dangerous escalation by emboldened Putin pic.twitter.com/xWKq4JohSS
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 6, 2017
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