The US website "thehill" reported that the US State Department has informed Congress that it intends to close its last two consulates in Russia after Moscow determined the number of diplomats allowed to enter the country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the expulsion of 755 US diplomats in 2017 after the US House of Representatives approved sanctions on Moscow for its occupation of the Crimean peninsula.
Washington responded by closing the Russian consulate in San Francisco, accusing it of exercising non-diplomatic roles.
This prompted Moscow to limit the number of American diplomats accredited to it at the time.
The move to close the two American consulates means that Washington will only be represented by its embassy in Moscow, and it will leave the United States without a diplomatic presence in most Russian lands, which will impede Americans' efforts to travel to Russia, as well as Russians to obtain entry visas to the United States.
It was not immediately clear when the US consulates would be closed and their staff transferred to the Moscow embassy.
The expected reduction of the United States' diplomatic presence in Russia comes before an expected cooling in relations between Washington and Moscow, with US President-elect Joe Biden assuming his duties on January 20 and following a tougher tone with Russia regarding interference in the 2016 US elections, as well as its presence in Ukraine and points Other odds.