Russia is expelling 60 U.S. diplomats and closing the American consulate in St. Petersburg in what the Kremlin described as a tit-for-tat response to the Trump administration’s expulsions of Russian operatives earlier this week.
President Donald Trump on Monday ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian intelligence officers who the administration said were posing under diplomatic cover, in addition to the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle. More than 20 countries joined the United States in expelling Russian officials. The coordinated punishment came in response to the alleged Russian poisoning of a former double agent, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter on British soil earlier in March.
“U.S. 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 U.S.,” said Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, according to Russian media. “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’s foreign ministry said the U.S. officials, 58 Moscow embassy employees and two from the consulate in Yekaterinburg, must leave Russia by April 5. The St. Petersburg consulate must be freed up by March 31.
“In case of continued hostile actions against Russian diplomatic and consular institutions in the U.S., additional measures will be taken,” the foreign ministry said. “We invite U.S. authorities, who are encouraging and fanning a campaign of slander against our country, to rethink and stop these reckless actions that are destroying bilateral relations.”
