Kremlin retaliates over mass spy expulsions

RUSSIA has made a tit-for-tat response to a wave of expulsions of its diplomats and spies from Western nations, and shut the US consulate in St Petersberg.

Two dozen countries have recently ordered out more than 150 Russians, including 60 spies working under diplomatic cover in the United States, and dozens more across Europe, including France and Germany.

In the latest escalation Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said the Kremlin would expel the same number of diplomats from each country in a retaliatory measure.

Russia has already expelled 23 British diplomats in response to the same number being forced to leave the UK following the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

The Kremlin will also close the US consulate in St Petersburg in response to the Russian consulate in Seattle being shut down.

Mr Lavrov said Russia was reacting to “absolutely unacceptable actions taken against us under very harsh pressure from the United States and Britain under the pretext of the so-called Skripal case”. He accused London of “forcing everyone to follow an anti-russian course” and “making mockery of international law”, and said that Russia had again asked the UK for access to Yulia Skripal so it could “establish the truth”.

Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-general, said the world was approaching a situation “similar” to the Cold War, adding that he was “very concerned”.