Russia on Thursday announced a mass expulsion of US diplomats and the closure of the US consulate in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in retaliation to coordinated moves by Western countries to isolate Moscow in the wake of the poisoning of a former double agent in Britain.
Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would expel 60 US diplomats and close Washington’s consulate in Saint Petersburg in a tit-for-tat response to the expulsion of its envoys across three continents.
In Washington, the US Department of State said there was no justification for the Russian move and that the US “reserves the right to respond.”
Photo: AP
“It’s clear from the list provided to us that the Russian Federation is not interested in a dialogue on issues that matter to our two countries,” spokeswoman Heather Nauert said of the expelled diplomats.
“I want to remind you that there is no justification for the Russian response. Our actions were motivated purely by the attack on the United Kingdom, the attack on a British citizen and his daughter,” she said. “Remember, this is the first time that a weapons-grade nerve agent, Novichok, has been used outside of war on allied soil.”
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Russia’s expulsion of US diplomats marks a “further deterioration” in relations between the two countries, but like Nauert defended similar moves by Washington and its allies.
“Russia’s response was not unanticipated, and the US will deal with it,” she said.
Lavrov said US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman had been informed of “retaliatory measures,” which include “the expulsion of the equivalent number of diplomats and our decision to withdraw permission for the functioning of the US consulate general in Saint Petersburg.”
Earlier, Washington had ordered 60 Russia diplomats to leave the country and shut down the Russian consulate general in Seattle.
In all, more than 150 Russian diplomats have been ordered out of the US, EU members, NATO countries and other nations in coordinated action against Moscow, which they accuse of poisoning ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in a nerve agent attack in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.
The hospital where the two are being treated on Thursday said that Yulia, 33, was “improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition,” while 66-year-old Sergei remained in a critical but stable condition.
Britain has said it is “highly likely” that Russia was responsible for the attack using a nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union, but Russia has angrily denied any involvement.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that 58 diplomats from the US embassy in Moscow and two from the consulate in the city of Yekaterinburg have to leave Russia by next Thursday, while the US consulate general in Saint Petersburg must be vacated by Saturday.
Huntsman’s suggestion — made on Russian RBK television — that the US could also freeze Russian state assets would lead to “further serious deterioration in our relations,” Moscow said, adding that it could take further measures in response if Washington “continued hostile actions” against the Russian embassy and consulates.
“We have suggested that the US authorities, which have encouraged and inflated a campaign of slander against our country, should come to their senses and cease thoughtless actions that destroy bilateral relations,” the ministry said.
Lavrov said Russia was also mulling tit-for-tat responses to the other countries that have expelled its diplomats.
“As for the other countries, it’s also all symmetrical measures as to the number of people who will be leaving Russia from diplomatic missions, and that’s all so far,” Lavrov said, adding that the measures might “not only” be symmetrical.
Russia was reacting to “absolutely unacceptable actions that are taken against us under very harsh pressure from the US and Britain under the pretext of the so-called Skripal case,” Lavrov said.
He said that London was to blame for “forcing everyone to follow an anti-Russian course.”
Britain had on Thursday informed Moscow of the state of health of Yulia Skripal, and that Russia had asked again for access to her as a citizen, he said, adding that Moscow wanted to “establish the truth” over the poisoning and accused Britain of “making mockery of international law.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of