BREAKING: Russia to Eject U.S. Diplomats in Response to Sanctions

We Are Change

MOSCOW, RUSSIA (WeAreChange) — Russia on Friday announced plans to expel 35 US diplomats and ban US diplomatic staff from using a holiday home and a warehouse in Moscow in a tit-for-tat response to Washington’s sanctions, according to Russian news agencies.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted by the agencies as saying he had proposed the measures to President Vladimir Putin.

“Russia’s foreign ministry … has requested that the Russian president approve declaring as personae non gratae 31 employees of the US embassy in Moscow and four diplomats from the US consulate in Saint Petersburg,” Lavrov said in televised comments.

The ministry is also seeking to ban diplomats from using a holiday home located in western Moscow and a warehouse in the north of the city, Lavrov said, after President Barack Obama said the US would close two Russian compounds.

Lavrov said the two Russian country houses in New York and Maryland were used for children’s holidays and ridiculed the notion they were “nests of spies.”

US President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian suspected spies and imposed sanctions on two Russian intelligence agencies over unfounded claims they hacked the US 2016 presidential election.

“We of course cannot leave these stunts unanswered. Reciprocity is the law in diplomacy and international relations,” he said, hoping that Putin approves the requests “promptly.”

He said that allegations that Russia interfered in US elections were baseless.

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from We Are Change http://wearechange.org/breaking-russia-eject-u-s-diplomats-response-sanctions/