Zakharova: Diplomatic Situation Between Russia and the US will Worsen
Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, announces that Washington told 55 Russian diplomats to leave within the coming months.
Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, revealed that the United States has demanded that 55 more Russian diplomats of the Russian embassy and consulates leave the United States in the coming months.
"Given the demands put forward by Washington that another 55 of our diplomats and administrative and technical workers should leave the United States in the coming months (and this essentially means expulsion), the situation on the diplomatic 'front' will only get worse," Zakharova said in a statement.
She clarified that there are currently around 130 US diplomats working in diplomatic missions in Russia, while Russia has less than 200 working in the Russian embassy in Washington and two consulates in New York and Houston.
No surprise
Zakharova commented on the US decision, saying that she has long stopped feeling surprised vis-a-vis all kinds of leaks and statements made by US officials, regarding the conditions they claim to be unbearable, under which the US embassy is forced to operate.
The spokesperson also revealed an offer Moscow had given the US administration to halt the escalations and launch bilateral talks to discuss all sources of tension between the two countries.
She considered that Washington was the first to create a confrontation by taking a number of decisions that destroyed bilateral ties between the two countries, like seizing Russian diplomatic assets and the mass expulsions of Russian diplomats, in breach of the Vienna accords.