Moscow – Russia responded to the United States’ expulsion of its 60 officials from Washington by giving official notice to 60 US diplomats to leave the country by April 5.
According to an official statement by the Foreign Ministry of India which was released on Thursday, a total of 58 people were expelled from the Country. The officials were serving at the US embassy in Moscow and another two were serving at the US consulate in Yekaterinburg.
Along with the said actions, Russia also revoked permission for US consulate in St Petersburg, that is to convey it to shut down. It also issued a protest notice to the US ambassador to Moscow, Jon Huntsman, regarding what it called “outrageous and unwarranted” diplomatic action against Russia.
The statement asserted that the recent moves were made on the “principle of reciprocity”.
The United States responded to it quickly, by holding a press conference, in which Washington, DC, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Russia’s actions show it is “not interested in a dialogue”.
“There is no justification for the Russian response. Our actions were motivated purely by the attack on the UK – the attack on a British citizen and his daughter,” Nauert said.
She further said that the US has the right to reciprocate the Russian moves against it.
On Monday and Tuesday, 120 Russian diplomats were expelled from 24 countries of Europe along with the US, Canada and Australia. The response by other countries was based on solidarity with the UK after the nerve agent poisoning of a former Russian spy in the southern English city of Salsibury.
NATO came down heavily over the issue and announced that seven officials working in the Russian mission to the alliance will also have to leave.
Last week, London too expelled a total of 23 Russian officials and Moscow responded in kind.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May has said that she has got evidence of Russian involvement in the case of poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
Yulia is said to be in stable condition as of now and is improving rapidly, doctors said on Thursday. Sergei remains in critical but stable condition.
The UK government alleges that the nerve agent used in the deadly attack, Novichok, was developed in Russia. Moscow has out rightly denied accusations that it was involved in the assassination attempt.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zaharova doubted the investigation done by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons ( OPCW) into the Skripal case. She called the investigation a “trickery”.
Last week, OPCW inspectors arrived in the United Kingdom to collect samples of the substance that poisoned Skirpals, to get it analyzed. The OPCW is expected to release the output results on April 2.
Zaharova said it was not at all clear about what evidence the UK gave to OPCW experts, and whether the people they visited in the hospital were indeed the two victims.
“Whom did they show to these experts, if there was such a contact at all? … And you are asking if we would accept this absolute trickery?” Zaharova said at a foreign ministry press conference.
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