Federal agents in the United States carried out an inspection of a Russian trade mission in Washington on Saturday, amid escalating tensions between the two nations.
The visit comes two days after the US announced it was shuttering the Russian consulate in San Francisco as well as annexes in New York and Washington.
A report in Foreign Policy magazine claimed that Russian officials were forewarned of the inspection and had lit a fire to burn documents.
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Read more: Russia lashes out after Trump orders diplomatic posts closed
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Black smoke was seen billowing from the consulate in San Francisco on Friday.
A spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry insisted the smoke was due to measures to "preserve the building" at a time when officials were gearing up to leave.
US agents were seen in the gardens of the mansion in Washington as Russian news agency RIA-Novosti reported that the search was conducted with Russian officials present.
"Today, Russian Embassy personnel, together with State Department officials, walked through three properties in San Francisco, New York and Washington, DC that the Russian government is required to close," a State Department official said.
"These inspections were carried out to secure and protect the facilities and to confirm the Russian government had vacated the premises," he said, adding that all three are now closed.
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Read more: US orders Russia to close consulate but seeks 'to improve relations'
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The shuttering of the three properties by the Trump administration was in response to staff cuts enforced by Russia at the US mission in Moscow.
Russia’s foreign ministry is said to be furious with the inspection and presented acting US mission head Anthony Godfrey with a "note of protest over the intention of the American authorities to conduct a search."
The ministry warned that the visit "could be used by the US intelligence services to organise an anti-Russian provocation involving planting compromising materials."
"The US authorities must stop the gross violations of international law and breaching the immunity of Russia's diplomatic institutions. Otherwise, we reserve the right to reciprocate on mutual basis," the note added.
Tensions between the US and Russia have been rising over the past few months, despite Mr Trump vowing to improve relations with its former Cold War rival during his presidential campaign.
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
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Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
