Russia announces tit-for-tat expulsions of Western diplomats, closes US consulate in St. Petersburg

Russia says it will expel foreign diplomats on the same scale as the number of Russian envoys who were expelled from other countries.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday that Russia would retaliate in kind to countries that expelled Russian diplomats over the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK.

The decision is the latest move in the diplomatic fallout that began after Britain accused Russia of responsibility for the nerve agent attack in early March.

Read more: Germany, other countries expel Russian diplomats over Skripal poisoning

What Lavrov said:

• The Foreign Ministry told US Ambassador Jon Huntsman that Russia would expel 60 US diplomats and close the US consulate in St. Petersburg.
• The consulate would have to suspend work by March 31, while the diplomats would have to leave Russia by April 5.
• The decision was in response to the US decision to expel the same number of Russian diplomats and close the Russian consulate in Seattle.
• Russia would also retaliate equivalently to two dozen other countries, including Germany, that expelled Russian diplomats.

US Ambassador Jon Huntsman was informed about the decision at the Russian Foreign Ministry

More to come at dw.com

amp/sms (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)