Politics
18:53, 31-Mar-2018
UK must cut 'just over 50' more of its diplomatic staff in Russia: Foreign Ministry
["china"]
Share
Copied
Moscow has told Britain it must cut “just over 50” more of its diplomatic and technical staff in Russia in a worsening standoff over the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in England, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
Russia has already retaliated in kind against Britain and ejected 23 British diplomats after frosty relations between London and Moscow deteriorated further.
London says Moscow was responsible for the attack, the first known use of a military-grade nerve agent on European soil since World War Two. Russia flatly denies that and has cast the allegations as part of an elaborate Western plot to sabotage East-West relations and isolate Moscow.
The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned British Ambassador Laurie Bristow on Friday and told him London had one month to cut its diplomatic contingent in Russia to the same size as the Russian mission in Britain. It also expelled 59 diplomats from 23 other countries for backing Britain.
In all, more than 150 Russian diplomats have been ordered out of the US, EU members, NATO countries and other nations in solidarity with Britain over the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter on British soil in early March.
Earlier this month Russia expelled 23 British diplomats, closed a British consulate in Saint Petersburg and halted the activities of British Council. They came after Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats and suspended high-level contacts, among other measures.
On Friday, Russia expelled diplomats from 23 other countries - most of them EU member states - in retaliation against the West, in the biggest wave of tit-for-tat expulsions in recent memory.
Source(s): AFP
,Reuters