The US expelled two Russian diplomats, weeks after Moscow ordered two Americans to leave, the latest tit-for-tat expulsions as relations continue to worsen between the two countries.
The move came after Russia ousted the two US diplomats for contacts with a former consular employee who had been accused of collecting sensitive information. The US has called those allegations baseless.
“The Department will not tolerate the Russian government’s pattern of harassment of our diplomats,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.
The unidentified Russian diplomats were given seven days to depart the US. That was the same amount of time given to US diplomats Jeffrey Sillin and David Bernstein, who were ordered to leave Russia last month.
Russia Expels Two US Diplomats in Feud Over Ex-Employee
Sillin and Bernstein were accused of contacts with a former employee of the US consulate in Vladivostok who later pleaded guilty to gathering confidential information.
Russia and the US have engaged in a series of reciprocal expulsions dating to well before Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.