Russia hits West, expels 23 diplomats
News & Trends •
read more18 aside the 60 american envoys axed in a retaliatory expulsion by russia diplomats from 23 countries have been asked to go in the biggest ever diplomatic row between russia and the west1 the russian foreign ministry had summoned the heads of missions from 23 countries to tell them that some of their diplomats had to leave1 france germany canada and poland each said that russia was expelling four of their diplomats1 other countries including ukraine the netherlands sweden the czech republic finland lithuania and norway were also told to pull their envoys1 the moves came in retaliation for the coordinated expulsion of russian diplomats by britain and its allies over a nerve agent attack against former double agent sergei skripal and his daughter yulia in the english city of salisbury on march 41 this is certainly not a surprise dutch foreign minister stef blok said through a spokeswoman referring to moscows expulsion of two of the countrys diplomats1 britain has said it is highly likely that russia was responsible for the skripal attack using the novichok nerve agent developed in the soviet union but russia has angrily denied any involvement1 after the poisoning britain kicked off the global response by announcing it would expel 23 russian diplomats suspend high-level diplomatic contact with moscow and not send any members of its royal family to the 2018 football world cup hosted by russia1 russia has expelled the envoys from the 23 countries in retaliation against the west in an escalating spy row1 in further measures against the uk the russian foreign ministry gave britain a month to cut the number of diplomatic staff in russia to the same number russia has in britain a move london called regrettable1 this doesnt change the facts of the matter the attempted assassination of two people on british soil for which there is no alternative conclusion other than that the russian state was culpable a spokeswoman for britains foreign office said1 two australian diplomats were expelled with prime minister malcolm turnbull saying it was a disappointing although not unexpected reaction by the russian government to the decision of the australian government to expel two russian diplomats working as undeclared intelligence officers1 in the kremlin president vladimir putin presided over a meeting of the countrys security council which discussed the most recent retaliatory steps against britain and its allies1 russia did not unleash any diplomatic war putins spokesman dmitry peskov said. russia never initiated any exchange of sanctions1 moscow announced thursday that it would expel 60 us diplomats and close the us consulate in saint petersburg after the expulsion of its own diplomats and the closure of one of its us consulates1 in all more than 150 russian diplomats have been ordered out of the us eu members nato countries and other nations which are accusing russia of being involved in the skripal poisoning1 russia then responded by closing a british consulate in saint petersburg and the british council educational and cultural organisation1