The expulsion of the US Embassy in Moscow is a mirror and forced measure to the actions of the United States in relation to Russian diplomats. So the expulsion of American diplomats explained the deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Ryabkov, RIA Novosti reports.
Ryabkov added that Russia calls on the US abandon such measures. He also noted that the American side still has time to stop the expulsion of Russian diplomats before Moscow will take response.
Earlier, on December 1, the Russian Foreign Ministry obliges the staff of the US Embassy to leave Moscow. According to the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Maria Zakharova, by January 31, 2022 Russia is obliged to leave the US Embassy, which are in Moscow for more than three years.
Ambassador of Russia in Washington Anatoly Antonov said that 27 Russian diplomats will leave the United States on January 30, and still will go on June 30, 2022, that is, just 54 people. He stressed that the spouses of diploma workers are taken by accreditation, children do not give visas. The diplomat also stated that the United States rejects all the proposals of Russia to restore inter-parliamentary communications, reject requests for meetings in Congress and refuse to listen to Russian arguments.
At the same time, the deputy head of the US State Department of State Department Jalina Porter stated that the departure of Russian diplomats scheduled for 2022 can not be considered as their expulsion or punitive measure.