Banish 755 US Diplomats, Russia Give Time Until September
Russia will give a September 1 deadline to the United States to reduce its diplomatic staff in Russia to 455. This amount is equal to the number of Russian diplomats left in the US after Washington expelled 35 Russian diplomats in December.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia expelled 755 US diplomatic staff and was considering other additional measures for the United States. This decision is in response to the new sanctions that the US will apply to Russia.
"This is the time to show we will not leave everything without an answer," Putin said in an interview with Vesti TV, Sunday (30/7), quoted Aljazeera.
In addition to expelling hundreds of US diplomats, Moscow will also seize two US diplomatic properties, after the House and the US Senate approved new sanctions against Russia. The new US sanctions are the result of a US intelligence investigation that Russia has interfered with US presidential elections by 2016, and to punish Russia for its annexations in the Crimea in 2014.
Putin asserted US sanctions are a step to exacerbate relations between the two countries. "We waited long enough, maybe something will change for the better, hoping the situation will change somehow, but it seems the situation will not change immediately," Putin said.
However, he said Moscow and Washington had achieved the result of cooperation even in this difficult situation. The creation of a de-escalation zone in Syria shows the concrete results of the cooperation between the two countries.
EmoticonEmoticon