SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - 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. “Moscow will examin the new measures announced by the Americans in detail after which our reaction will be announced.”

The US State Department ordered Moscow to close the consulate and two annexes in Washington and New York in two days, saying the decision was made “in the spirit of parity” following a Moscow-imposed cap on the US diplomatic presence in Russia. "We believe this action was unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement on Thursday, adding that the United States had completed the reduction. "The United States hopes that, having moved toward the Russian Federation's desire for parity, we can avoid further retaliatory actions by both sides and move forward to achieve the stated goal of both our presidents: improved relations between our two countries and increased co-operation on areas of mutual concern," state department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.
The United States State Department orders Russia to close the Consulate-General in San Francisco and two other buildings by September 2, 2017, invoking "parity" over a Russian measure in July.