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russia expels us diplomats

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Russia has decided to expel 60 American diplomats and to close the St Petersburg consulate in a tit-for-tat response to US action over Sergei Skripal poisoning case in the UK.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said other countries that expelled Russians could expect a “symmetrical” response.

The move comes amid a row over the nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK.

The White House said Russia’s move to expel its diplomats had been “not unanticipated”.

It said in a statement that the move marked “a further deterioration in the United States-Russia relationship”.

Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench in the city of Salisbury on March 4, and the UK government has blamed Russia for the attack and decided to expel 23 Russian diplomats.

Russia has vehemently denied any role in the attack. Sergei Skripal remains in a critical but stable condition. Yulia Skripal’s condition is said to be improving.

Following the attack, more than 20 countries have expelled Russian envoys in solidarity with the UK. Among them is the US, which earlier this week ordered 60 diplomats to leave and closed the Russian consulate general in Seattle.

Russia declared 58 US diplomats in Moscow and two in Yekaterinburg to be “personae non gratae”.

Image source Wikimedia

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Sergei Lavrov said US ambassador Jon Huntsman had been informed of the “retaliatory measures”.

Later, a state department spokeswoman said the US reserved the right to take further action.

Sergei Lavrov also accused Britain of “forcing everyone to follow an anti-Russian course”.

He said Moscow was responding to “absolutely unacceptable actions that are taken against us under very harsh pressure from the United States and Britain under the pretext of the so-called Skripal case”.

Sergei Lavrov reiterated Russian calls for consular access to Yulia Skripal – a Russian citizen.

Russia, he said, was also seeking a meeting with leaders of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to “establish the truth”.

Following the incident in Salisbury, British PM Theresa May announced a series of sanctions, including the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats alleged to be intelligence agents.

Russia responded by expelling an equal number of UK diplomats and closing the country’s British Council.

Then – in what has been cited as the largest collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers in history – more than 20 governments expelled diplomats in their countries.

President Vladimir Putin has ordered 755 US diplomatic staff to leave Russia, in retaliation for new US sanctions against Moscow.

The decision to expel staff was made on July 29 , but President Putin has now confirmed the number who must go by September 1.

It brings staff levels to 455, the same as Russia’s complement in Washington.

This is thought to be the largest expulsion of diplomats from any country in modern history.

The number includes Russian employees of the US diplomatic missions across Russia.

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Staff in the embassy in Moscow as well as the consulates in Ekaterinburg, Vladivostok and St. Petersburg are affected.

Vladimir Putin did strike a conciliatory note, saying he did not want to impose more measures, but also said he could not see ties changing “anytime soon”.

The president told Russian TV: “More than 1,000 people were working and are still working” at the US embassy and consulates, and that “755 people must stop their activities in Russia.”

Russia has also said it is seizing holiday properties and a warehouse used by US diplomats.

Vladimir Putin suggested he could consider more measures, but said: “I am against it as of today.”

The Russian president also noted the creation of a de-escalation zone in southern Syria as an example of a concrete result of working together.

However, in terms of general relations, Vladimir Putin added: “We have waited long enough, hoping that the situation would perhaps change for the better.

“But it seems that even if the situation is changing, it’s not for anytime soon.”

The new US sanctions were in retaliation both for Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Russian interference in the US election.

In December, the Obama administration ordered the seizure of two Russian diplomatic compounds and expelled 35 Russian diplomats in response to alleged hacking of the US Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

The new US sanctions on Russia were overwhelmingly approved by both houses of Congress despite objections from the White House.

US intelligence agencies believe Russia tried to sway the election in favor of President Donald Trump and now there are several investigations looking into whether anyone from his campaign helped.

Russia has always denied interfering and Donald Trump insists there was no collusion.