Russia ‘tit-for-tat’, expelling US diplomats

The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on March 23, saying that it had summoned a senior diplomat from the US Embassy in Moscow and handed him a list of expelled US diplomats.

US Embassy in Moscow, Russia. Photo: RT

Russian authorities did not disclose how many people were on the list of “unwelcome diplomats”. However, they said the move was in response to the US government’s expulsion of 12 members of the Russian diplomatic mission to the United Nations, including a diplomat from the UN Secretariat in New York.

“The US side has been clearly informed that any hostile act by it against Russia will receive a decisive and appropriate response,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

According to RT, Washington expelled a series of Russian diplomats at the end of February on charges of “engaging in espionage activities harmful to US national security”. A week earlier, the US government also ordered the expulsion of Russian Deputy Ambassador Sergey Trepelkov in Washington. At the end of 2021, the US asked 27 Russian diplomats to leave.

Moscow has voiced opposition to the decisions, blaming Washington for serious violations of its commitments, and calling on US authorities to show “common sense” and avoid further escalation. Russia then applied a similar “tit-for-tat” measure with the excuse that the US side was “not ready to negotiate”.

On March 21, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned that relations between the two countries were “on the verge of collapse”. Another scathing statement came after US President Joe Biden condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin for military offensive in Ukraine.

Tuan Anh

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