Following the expulsion of two US diplomats from Moscow, Washington also expelled two Russian diplomats.
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US President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday ordered the expulsion of two Russian diplomats from Washington in response to the expulsion of two US diplomats from Moscow last month.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said it took the step in response to Russia declaring two US diplomats persona non grata due to their contacts with a Russian citizen who has been detained in the far-eastern Russian city of Vladivostok. Worked for the Consulate and was arrested this year.
“The ministry will not tolerate harassment of our diplomats by the Russian government,” Miller said in a statement. “Any unacceptable action against our embassy personnel in Moscow will have consequences.”
America has taken the decision to expel Russian diplomats at a time when tensions have increased between Washington and Moscow over Russia’s war against Ukraine and diplomatic relations between America and Russia have reached the lowest level since the Cold War era. went.
On September 14, Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused Jeffrey Silin, First Secretary of the US Embassy in Moscow, and David Bernstein, Second Secretary, of the US Embassy in Moscow, of being involved in ‘illegal activities’ and ordered them to leave the country within seven days.
The ministry had claimed that Silin and Bernstein were “in contact” with former consular employee Robert Shonov, who is accused of gathering information for US diplomats on Russia’s military action in Ukraine and other related issues.
Russia’s federal security agency FSB confirmed Shonov’s arrest in August. The FSB had said that Shonov had conducted ‘special military operations, gathering information about mobilization processes in Russian regions’.
Disclaimer: IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.
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