SPY POISONING: US expels 60 Russian diplomats, as EU confirms 31 member countries will do same

A day after Poland, Lithuania and Latvia recalled their envoys from Moscow over the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia, the US has expelled 60 Russian diplomats.

The White House in a statement said the decision to close the Russian consulate in Seattle was taken to back its closest ally (Britain) and the announcement came as the EU confirmed that 16 countries under its umbrella have announced that they will expel 31 Russian diplomats.

“The United States takes this action – in conjunction with our NATO allies and partners around the world – in response to Russia’s use of a military-grade chemical weapon on the soil of the United Kingdom, the latest in its ongoing pattern of destabilising activities around the world,” the White House said in a statement.

Read also: POISONING OF SPY: US joins row

Sarah Sanders, White House press secretary, said the US and its allies want to send a message to Russia that “actions have consequences”.

Reports say many of the Russian diplomats expelled by the US were intelligence officials
Reacting to the decision by the US, Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, responded by saying the decision was “wrongful.”

“What the United States of America do today is they are destroying the little that is left from the Russian-American relations,” he said.

Skripal and his daughter Yulia where both found unconscious at a park in the southwestern British city of Salisbury and were both rushed to a hospital where they are both said to be in critical condition.

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