Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Russia ordered the staff of the United States (US) Embassy in Moscow to return to their country on January 31, 2022. This was in retaliation for the US decision to limit the requirements of Russian diplomats.
“We … intend to respond in an appropriate manner. US Embassy employees who have been in Moscow for more than three years must leave Russia by January 31,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was quoted as saying. Reuters, Thursday (2/12/2021).
“Before July 1 next year, unless Washington sets aside the three-year rule and compromises, more (US) workers (in Russia) will leave in numbers commensurate with the number of Russians announced by the State Department,” he said.
The diplomatic row between the two countries escalated after last week Russia’s ambassador to the United States said 27 Russian diplomats and their families had been expelled from the United States. They will leave on January 30th.
But the US says Russian diplomats were not expelled. They came home because they had passed the three-year stay in the country.
News agency report RIA said under the new US rules, Russian diplomats forced to leave the US would be barred from working as diplomats in Uncle Sam’s country for three years. A US State Department spokesman said his country had informed Russia more than a year ago that its diplomats would only be allowed to stay for three years and could be replaced by another diplomat.
“I want to be clear, this is not an expulsion,” the spokesman said, adding that the rule change was designed to have Russia rotate its diplomats with the same frequency as the US Embassy in Moscow.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said it was not too late for Washington to stop Moscow following through on new expulsions. Especially if the US scrapped its own plans to expel Russian diplomats.
The reduction in staff of the US Embassy in Moscow will put pressure on operations amid expulsions and other restrictions. The embassy is the last operational U.S. mission in the country after consulates in Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg closed and shrunk to 120 staff from around 1,200 in early 2017.
Relations between Washington and Moscow are at post-Cold War lows for years. Their relationship is also under pressure due to the buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine.
(tfa/sef)
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