Last week, the Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said that 27 Russian diplomats are being expelled from the US, leading to a shortage of staff at the embassy. 

In a retaliatory move, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said Wednesday that Russia intends to respond in the same manner. 

The US embassy in Moscow has downsized from 1,200 staff members in 2017 to a meager 120 staff members as the relationship between the two soured. 

The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, made it clear that Russia will take a step back if the US quits this behavior. 

According to the RIA Novosti news agency, Zakharova said that US' latest move meant that the Russian diplomats suspended from the US are also barred from working in the US for 3 years. 

💬#Zakharova: The US introduced a 3-year limit on long-term assignments for Russian diplomats in America.

☝️ We regard this requirement as expulsion & intend to respond accordingly. All @USEmbRu employees who have been here for more than 3 years must leave Russia by 31.01.2022. pic.twitter.com/ZmjHnxxOrY

— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) December 1, 2021

She continues, "Before July 1 next year, unless Washington waives 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."

NATO hints at sanctions

On Wednesday, the Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Jens Stoltenberg, said that NATO has a "wide range of options" if Russia were to use force against Ukraine, including financial, political, and economic measures. 

"We have a wide range of options to make sure that Russia will be confronted with serious consequences if they once again use force against an independent sovereign nation, Ukraine," Stoltenberg told a news conference in Latvia.

"Everything from economic sanctions, financial sanctions, political restrictions, but also, as we saw after 2014 when they illegally annexed Crimea ... that actually triggered the biggest reinforcement of our collective defense since the end of the Cold War," Stoltenberg said on the sidelines of a meeting between NATO foreign ministers at the conference. 

The European Union's foreign policy commissioner, Josep Borrell, had earlier considered that any hostile move against Ukraine will be met with a "strong reaction," pointing out that the European Union supports Ukraine's sovereignty.