Russia retaliates with diplomat expulsions, consulate closure

MOSCOW (AFP) – Russia on Thursday announced a mass expulsion of US diplomats and the closure of the US consulate in Saint Petersburg in retaliation to coordinated moves by Western countries to isolate Moscow in the wake of the poisoning of a former double agent in Britain.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would expel 60 US diplomats and close Washington’s consulate in Saint Petersburg in a titfor-tat response to the expulsion of its envoys across three continents.

In Washington, the State Department said there was no justification for the Russian move and that the United States ‘’reserves the right to respond.’’

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Russia’s expulsion of US diplomats marks a ‘’further deterioration’’ in relations between the two countries, but like Nauert defended similar moves by Washington and its allies.

‘’Russia’s response was not unanticipated, and the United States will deal with it,’’ she said.

Lavrov said the US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman had been informed of ‘’retaliatory measures,’’ which include ‘’the expulsion of the equivalent number of diplomats and our decision to withdraw permission for the functioning of the US consulate general in Saint Petersburg.’’

Earlier, Washington had ordered 60 Russia diplomats to leave the country and shut down the Russian consulate general in Seattle.

In all, more than 150 Russian diplomats have been ordered out of the US, EU members, NATO countries and other nations in coordinated action against Moscow which they accuse of poisoning ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in a nerve agent attack in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.