Alwaght- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov vowed on Thursday Moscow will expel sixty US diplomats and close the country’s consulate in St. Petersburg, in retaliation for the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats triggered by the US and UK following alleged poisoning of a Russian former double agent in Britain.
Russian top diplomat also told at the press conference following a meeting with the special UN envoy for Syria Staffan De Mistura that Moscow also will shut down the US Consulate General in Saint Petersburg.
"The measures will be reciprocal… They include expulsion of the equivalent number of diplomats and they include our decision to withdraw our agreement to allow the United States' general consulate to operate in St. Petersburg," Lavrov told.
US ambassador to Moscow, Jon Huntsman, has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry and told the news by deputy FM Sergey Ryabkov, Lavrov said.
The expulsions of Russian diplomats began on March 14, when the UK declared 23 people personae non grata, claiming that Moscow was “highly likely” behind the alleged poisoning of Sergey Skripal and his daughter Yulia with the chemical agent “novichok.” Russia has denied the allegations and requested the British government to provide evidence. So far, there has been none.
The US in solidarity with its European ally expelled 48 Russian diplomats from the bilateral mission and 12 more from the UN mission, on Monday and shut down the Russian consulate in Seattle. Canada, Australia and a number of US allies in Europe have followed up by expelling over 90 Russian diplomats.
In addition to the mirror response to the US, Moscow will expel the equal number of diplomats from those countries, Lavrov said.
Among the US diplomats being expelled are 58 from the US Embassy in Moscow, and two officials from the General Consulate in Yekaterinburg, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced. The diplomats will have until April 5 to leave Russia. The US General Consulate in St. Petersburg is to be shut down by March 31.
“We invite the US government, which is encouraging and fanning the campaign of slander against our country, to rethink and stop these reckless actions destroying our bilateral relations,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
“We certainly know that Russia is responsible for that attack. That is something that is not in question,” US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on Tuesday. When pressed for evidence, however, she said that the word of Washington’s British allies was good enough.
“When the UK tells us they have proof, that they know Russia was responsible, we have every reason to believe them,” Nauert said.
