Retaliation: Russia expels 60 US diplomats and closes the American consulate in St. Petersburg; Romanian diplomat declared ‘persona non grata’

It didn’t take long for Vladimir Putin’s administration to take action against the measures taken by the USA against Russian diplomats. Russia will send home 60 US diplomats and close the American consulate in Sankt Petersburg. Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, said that the measures include the expulsion of the same number of diplomats.

UPDATE: Russia also declared ‘persona non grata’ one Romanian diplomat as a retaliation measure, according to the Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry. On Monday, Anatoly Akopov, a Russian diplomat, was declared ‘persona non grat’ by the Romanian authorities.

The action taken by US, NATO and 25 other countries come after the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia that the UK government is blaming on Russia.

The response of Russia, of expelling the same number of diplomats, is seen by political analysts as a measure that will not escalate the situation in the future. Still, the US response is that Russia had no justification for this response since they are responsible for poisoning the British citizen and his daughter.

Meanwhile, Russia is asking for the evidence gathered by UK police in order to conduct its own investigation and it has said that the substance used in the attack could also have been made in the Czech Republic, not only in Russia.

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Right now, fifty-eight US diplomats will have to leave the Moscow Embassy and two from US consulate in Ekaterinburg were declared persona non-grata and will have to leave Russia by April 5. The statement from the Russian Foreign Minister read that if further “hostile actions” against Russian diplomats will continue, there will be additional steps taken by Russia as well.

Russia has announced retaliation after US, NATO and 25 allies decided to expel about 130 Russian diplomats this week in support of the UK. British authorities expelled 23 Russian diplomats on March 14.