Fire spotted behind Russian diplomatic building in DC ordered closed

A fire was spotted outside a second Russian diplomatic building Friday one day after President Trump ordered it closed.

Foreign Policy reported the fire was spotted behind the Trade Representative of the Russian Federation in Washington, D.C., on Friday evening.

Video posted to Twitter shows the fire burning behind the building.

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s the fire in back of about to-be-closed DC Russia trade rep building. @janawinter on the scene. pic.twitter.com/oKoKX2OIBv

— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) September 1, 2017

{mosads}

Foreign Policy reported that the building’s staff could be seen dumping paper into the fire.

The report follows a similar incident earlier Friday in San Fransisco in which smoke could be seen billowing from a chimney on the roof of the Russian consulate in San Fransisco.

The Associated Press reported that San Fransisco firefighters were turned away by consulate officials when they arrived in response to the smoke.

The incidents come a day after Trump administration ordered Russia to close the San Fransisco consulate — and annexes in Washington, D.C., and New York — in retaliation to Moscow ousting hundreds of U.S. diplomatic personnel, which was itself in response to new sanctions against Russia passed after the Kremlin’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.

On Thursday, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the Russian-held properties were being closed “in the spirit of parity,” but administration officials expressed hope that Moscow and Washington could work toward “better relations.”

“With this action both countries will remain with three consulates each,” Nauert said. “While there will continue to be a disparity in the number of diplomatic and consular annexes, we have chosen to allow the Russian Government to maintain some of its annexes in an effort to arrest the downward spiral in our relationship.”