Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Russia will respond in kind if the United States expels Russian diplomats. Of those being expelled, 48 of the alleged intelligence agents work at the Russian Embassy in Washington and 12 are posted at the United Nations in NY, senior administration officials said.
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He has so far refused to personally condemn Vladimir Putin for the attack, instead calling the Russian leader recently to congratulate him for his victory in a dubious election.
The Russian foreign ministry added: “It goes without saying that this unfriendly move by this group of countries will not go unnoticed, and we will respond to it”.
British Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday said the worldwide expulsions show that “we all stand shoulder to shoulder in sending the strongest signal to the Kremlin that Russian Federation can not continue to flout global law and threaten our security”.
An unofficial list of those missing circulating on Russian media included more than 20 children, some as young as five.
The two remain in critical condition in hospital.
All those being expelled are considered spies who “hide behind the veneer of diplomatic immunity while engaging in espionage activities”, according to a senior administration official.
At least 116 alleged agents working under diplomatic cover were ordered out by 22 governments on Monday, dwarfing similar measures in even the most notorious Cold War spying disputes.
The expulsions came with a chorus of condemnation for the Kremlin – for the poisoning, Russian spying and other Western grievances.
In a statement, the White House said Trump had ordered the expulsions to “make the United States safer by reducing Russia’s ability to spy on Americans and to conduct covert operations that threaten America’s national security”. Nearly immediately, the Russian Embassy asked its followers to take part in a Twitter poll to recommend which United States consulate it should close in response.
He also said that the United States wants to cooperate with Russian Federation.
Fine Gael MEP Brian Hayes said that the Irish government is right to act in solidarity with the United Kingdom through ousting Russian diplomats. Russia has already ordered 23 British diplomats out of the country after Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats.
In fact, it was only past year that Russian Federation complained bitterly to the USA about American diplomats posted to Moscow and other cities.
Russian Federation has denied it was behind the attempted assassination, which left Skripal and his daughter gravely ill in perhaps the first nerve agent attack in Europe since World War II.
The fire reportedly started on the fourth floor of the “Winter Cherry” shopping center in Kemerovo, Russia, at around 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.
European Union leaders agreed last week it was highly likely Russian Federation was behind the nerve-agent poisoning.
Alongside the allegations of election interference two years ago, the Kremlin is accused of spying and cyber-attacks targeting vital infrastructure in the US.
Monday’s expulsions appear to involve the largest number of Russians kicked out of the United States since 1986, when the Reagan administration expelled 55.
New Zealand said it had no such agents operating on its shores but would expel them if it did.
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Latvia: The Foreign Ministry told CNN it would expel one diplomat and one private citizen who runs the office of a Russian company in the capital, Riga.
