ANGRY RUSSIA CUTS U.S. EMBASSY STAFF
MOSCOW — Russia on Friday ordered the United States to reduce the number of American diplomats in the country — retaliation for new sanctions against Moscow passed this week by the U.S. Congress.
The massive vote margins — 98-2 in the Senate and 419-3 in the House — reflected growing bipartisan anxiety over President Trump’s two meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hamburg, Germany, this month.
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the number of American diplomats in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and its four consulates across the country should be reduced to 455 — the same as the number of Russian diplomats currently serving in the U.S. — by Sept. 1.
The ministry also seized two American diplomatic properties, including cottages just outside Moscow’s city center and a warehouse facility in Moscow.
Russia’s move came a day after the U.S. Senate passed a bill expanding economic sanctions on Russia, as well as North Korea and Iran. The Senate bill mirrored a bill passed in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
President Trump has not indicated if he will sign the measure or seek changes. But the Kremlin decided not to wait, because it did not expect that a final version, whatever its form, would be softer, a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin said in a conference call with reporters Friday.
Before the bill passed Thursday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the White House would “wait and see” what the bill looks like when lawmakers officially hand it over “and make a decision at that point.”
The White House was in no rush to receive the bill, which will force Trump to decide whether to sign legislation that will frustrate his efforts to improve relations with Putin, or whether to go against overwhelming opposition in the GOP-led Congress in the midst of a federal investigation into whether his campaign improperly cooperated with Russia.
Asked if Putin approved the Russian move, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “such measures are impossible without the president’s authorization.”
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow confirmed Friday that it had received the government’s notification giving it until Sept. 1 to reduce its staff numbers. The embassy properties must be handed over by Aug. 1.
“Ambassador [John] Tefft expressed his strong disappointment and protest,” embassy spokesman Maria Olson said.
The U.S. mission in Russia could not confirm its total staff figures, but it included one embassy in the capital, Moscow, and consulates in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok.
The decision came less than 24 hours after Putin, speaking at a news conference in Finland, accused the U.S. lawmakers of “insolence.”
Some Russian lawmakers viewed Friday’s move as equal treatment after President Obama last year expelled 35 Russian diplomats and seized two Russian properties in the U.S., one in New York and one in Maryland. As with the sanctions bill, the decision was made in response to accusations that the Kremlin tried to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.