[News] Russia advises US ambassador to leave and expel 10 US diplomats

[SougarLord]

 

In response to the expulsion from the United States of 10 Russian diplomats, a move announced Thursday by US President Joe Biden, along with a new battery of sanctions for "destabilizing" activities, Russia will do the same with another 10 US diplomats. This was announced yesterday by the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov.

 

At the same time, the US ambassador in Moscow, John Sullivan, has received Lavrov's recommendation to go to Washington for consultations at the White House on the current state of relations between the two countries, a formula that is bilaterally contemplated that it does not mean a full-fledged expulsion for him, since Sullivan retains the possibility of returning later to his embassy in the Russian capital.

 

Last month, when the US president called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a "murderer", Russia ordered its ambassador to the US capital, Anatoly Antonov, to return to Moscow, where he still remains, to discuss and analyze at the Ministry. of Foreign Affairs an in-depth review of relations.

 

Sanction against the US attorney general

Lavrov also dropped yesterday the possibility of more deportations of personnel from the US Embassy in Moscow so that it is equal in number of employees with the Russian Diplomatic Legation in Washington. He also assured that the Russian government is preparing to sanction eight US officials, including the US attorney general and the director of the FBI, who will not be able to travel to Russia; and various institutions accused of trying to interfere in the "political life" of Russia.

 

The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zajárova, already warned on Thursday that Russia's response would be "forceful", "irreversible" and "reciprocal", although much harsher have been the measures of the United States against Russia adopted by Biden. They have involved, in addition to the expulsion of 10 members of the Russian Embassy, sanctions against 32 entities and individuals and a ban on US financial institutions from acquiring Russian sovereign debt.