Russia expels 60 US diplomats

Russia has declared 58 employees of the US Embassy in Moscow and two staff members of the Consulate General in Yekaterinburg personae non gratae, they will have to leave the country by April 5, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday after US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman was summoned there.
“Based on the reciprocity principle, as a retaliatory measure, 58 employees of the US Embassy in Moscow and two staff members of the Consulate General in Yekaterinburg have been declared personae non gratae for the activities incompatible with their diplomatic status,” the ministry said. “They will have to leave the Russian Federation by April 5, 2018.”
Earlier , the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday that Russia will expel 60 US diplomats and close the US Consulate General in St. Petersburg
“US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman has been summoned to our ministry, where my deputy Sergei Ryabkov is briefing him on the tit-for-tat steps against the US,” he said.
“They include the expulsion of the same number of diplomats and our decision to withdraw consent to the work of the Consulate General in St. Petersburg.”
TASS