It was reported today that the US consulate in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia is back in the business of interviewing for visas to the United States. That is the good news for the Russians. And the new Russian ambassador, heavyweight Anatoly Antonov, has now been appointed ambassador to the United States (though he is on an EU sanctions list). He has said he particularly wishes to talk directly to the Pentagon (he was himself once a deputy minister of defence). But really bad news just came through today, 31 August.

The United States has chosen which Russian consulate to close. And it is the most popular among serving diplomats (and intelligence officers) and it is the one that hurts the most: San Francisco; both for the lifestyle beyond its gates and the immediate access it affords for intelligence officers to drive down to Silicon Valley along highways 101 and 280. In addition the Russians have to abandon two annexes, one in New York and one in Washington DC, that Moscow says are trade delegation premises. Worse still the Russians have to be out of them all by 2 September.

This level of retaliation is unprecedented by any standard. It underlines the fact that Secretary of State Tillerson means what he says, even though he tells his Russian counterpart, Lavrov, what is about to happen with scarcely any notice.