The latest casualty of the petty back-and-forth behavior between Russia and the U.S. is parking spaces for U.S. diplomats.
On Wednesday, Russia's state-owned television channel Rossiya 24 reported "that parking spaces outside the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg had been painted over with a pedestrian crossing," according to the Associated Press, "and special parking signs had been removed outside the U.S. consulate in Yekaterinburg, near the Ural Mountains."
A spokeswoman at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow declined to comment on the matter, the AP reported.
Staff reductions as well as limited diplomatic entry points could come in the near future, and on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that U.S. diplomatic missions in Russia would be reduced to "full parity," to coincide with Russian counterparts in the U.S.
Since the 2016 election and subsequent allegations that the Russian government attempted to interfere, as well as collude with President Donald Trump, tensions between the U.S. and Russia have continued to trek down a slippery slope. This August, the president expelled Russian diplomats from its consulate in San Francisco, after Russia expelled 755 U.S. diplomats in response to U.S. sanctions placed on the country.
The ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign's ties with the Russian government has continued to heat up as Trump has privately raged about how the scandal won't seem to leave his side. Russia has repeatedly denied allegations that they colluded with the president.
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