White House spokesman Raj Shah said Monday that the Trump administration’s decision this week to expel 60 Russian intelligence officers was meant to show the Kremlin that “actions have consequences,” after American and British officials concluded Russia was behind a chemical weapon attack earlier this month on an ex-spy in the U.K.
“We want to work with Russia, but type of an action cannot be tolerated,” Shah told reporters at the White House hours after the administration officials unveiled Trump’s decision to remove the intelligence officers.
“Our relationship with Russia is frankly up to the Russian government and up to [Russian President] Vladimir Putin,” Shah added.
The White House principal deputy press secretary defended Trump’s failure last week during a phone call with Putin to mention the poisoning of Sergei Skripal. Critics questioned why Trump did not take the opportunity to confront Putin over an attack his White House had condemned forcefully.
“The president did discuss a range of issues with Vladimir Putin,” Shah said of the call. “The president’s made his position and the country’s position pretty clear.”
In addition to removing the dozens of Russian diplomats — who the administration said were Russian intelligence officers operating in the U.S. under the pretense of diplomacy — the White House announced Monday that it would demand Russia close its consulate in Seattle.
The retaliatory measures came less than a week of Trump’s claim that he hoped to meet Putin face-to-face in the near future to discuss the “arms race.” However, Shah said the White House did not have immediate plans for such a meeting.
“We have no announcement on a potential meeting or any kind of summit,” Shah said.
The Trump administration coordinated its diplomat expulsions and consulate closure with more than a dozen of European allies, all of whom responded to the March 4 nerve agent attack with similar measures against Russia.
U.S. and U.K. officials concluded earlier this month that the Kremlin orchestrated the attack on Skripal because the chemical weapon used is manufactured only in Russia.
“The ball’s in their court with respect to how they want to respond,” Shah said of how Russia should respond to Trump’s latest decision.
Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. excoriated the decision on Monday, accusing Trump of taking a “very bad step” by expelling the Russian diplomats and claiming “very little still remains in terms of Russian-American relations.”
