Story updated at 7:36 p.m.
The White House condemned Russia’s “tit-for-tat” decision to expel U.S. officials from the county and said “the United States will deal with it.”
The brief statement put out by the office of White House press secretary Sarah Sanders also defended the Trump administration expelling Russian officials from the U.S. earlier this week due the poisoning of a former spy in the United Kingdom.
“Russia’s action today to expel American diplomats marks a further deterioration in the United States-Russia relationship,” said the statement. “The expulsion of undeclared Russian intelligence officers by the United States and more than two dozen partner nations and NATO allies earlier this week was an appropriate response to the Russian attack on the soil of the United Kingdom. Russia’s response was not unanticipated, and the United States will deal with it.”
Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov announced Thursday that 60 U.S. official would be expelled from Russia.
“US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman has been summoned to our ministry, where my deputy Sergei Ryabkov is briefing him on the tit-for-tat steps against the US,” Lavrov said, per TASS, a state-run media outlet. “They include the expulsion of the same number of diplomats and our decision to withdraw consent to the work of the Consulate General in St. Petersburg.”
Russia was responding to the U.S.’ announcement Monday that 60 Russian diplomats would be expelled from the U.S. following the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in the United Kingdom earlier this month.
“This is the largest expulsion of Russian intelligence officers in United States history,” Huntsman said Monday. “Today’s actions make the United States a safer place by limiting the ability of Russia to spy on Americans and conduct covert activities that threaten America’s national security.”
Altogether, Western nations have kicked out a total of 151 Russian officials following U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats in response to the incident after the U.K. determined Russia was behind the March 4 attack.
May said that Sergey Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer, was poisoned by a “military-grade nerve agent” created during the Cold War by the Soviet Union.
“This represents an unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom,” May said told the House of Commons. “It must therefore be met with a full and robust response.”
Russian officials have denied that Russia was responsible for the poisoning, and have in turn suggested that the U.K was behind the attack. Additionally, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the accusations were a result of “delirium.”
