The US State Department has said it is ordering Russia to close a consulate and two annexes in the United States after Russia forced the US to cut down its diplomatic mission in the country.

"The United States has fully implemented the decision by the Government of the Russian Federation to reduce the size of our mission in Russia." State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement, adding that the action was "unwarranted and detrimental to the overall relationship between our countries".

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"In the spirit of parity invoked by the Russians, we are requiring the Russian Government to close its Consulate General in San Francisco, a chancery annex in Washington, DC, and a consular annex in New York City. These closures will need to be accomplished by September 2."

The 2 September deadline leaves Russia just two days to achieve the "parity" demanded by the US.

"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."

The statement continued: "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 of our presidents: improved relations between our two countries and increased cooperation on areas of mutual concern."

It then added: "The United States is prepared to take further action as necessary and as warranted."

At the beginning of August, Russia ordered that 755 US diplomatic staff would have to leave the country a week after congress overwhelmingly passed harsh new sanctions. US Intelligence agencies accuse Russia of attempting to influence the recent president election in favour of now-US President Donald Trump.

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