Newsdeck

Newsdeck

Mooted U.S. expulsion of Russian diplomats would mean U.S. embassy closure, says Moscow

US President Joe Biden (R) and Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) meet during the US-Russia summit at Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland, 16 June 2021. (Photo: EPA-EFE/DENIS BALIBOUSE / POOL)

MOSCOW, Oct 6 (Reuters) - A Congressional proposal to expel 300 Russian diplomats from the United States would lead to the closure of U.S. diplomatic facilities in Russia if implemented, Russia's foreign ministry has said.

U.S. Democratic and Republican senators urged President Joe Biden on Tuesday to expel Russian diplomats if Moscow did not issue more visas for Americans to represent Washington in Russia.

“Those proposing such steps are apparently pushing for the closure of U.S. foreign institutions in Russia,” Russia’s foreign ministry said, the Interfax news agency reported.

“They must understand that the blame for this will lie with them,” the ministry said late on Tuesday.

It said that Moscow did not have that number of diplomats in Washington and that the proposal appeared to include diplomatic staff at Russia’s mission at the United Nations.

The U.S. proposal by the leaders of the Senate foreign relations and intelligence committees would mark an escalation in long-running tensions between Moscow and Washington over the number of diplomats they have in one another’s countries.

Russia in August banned the U.S. embassy in Moscow from retaining, hiring or contracting Russian or third-country staff, except for guards, forcing the mission to let go 182 employees and dozens of contractors, the State Department said.

(Reporting by Tom Balmforth; editing by Andrew Osborn)

Gallery

Comments - Please in order to comment.

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.