WASHINGTON (TASS): The United States handed over to the Russian side a list of 24 diplomats who need to leave the country before September 3 due to the expiration of their visas.
This was stated by the Russian ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, in an interview with the National Interest magazine. The text was published on Monday, the Russian diplomatic mission on the page in Facebook.
“Unfortunately, the situation is not changing for the better. Russian diplomatic missions in the United States are operating under conditions of unprecedented restrictions, which not only remain in force, but are also increasing,” the ambassador said. the role of diplomacy and the willingness to develop stable and predictable relations with Russia, the Russian diplomatic presence is undergoing ongoing blows. “
According to him, the American side is showing “persistence and ingenuity in this matter.”
“The expulsion of diplomats is carried out under far-fetched pretexts. Last December, the State Department unilaterally set a three-year travel limit for Russian personnel, which, as far as we know, does not apply to any other country,” the ambassador said.
“We received a list of 24 diplomats who are expected to leave the country by September 3, 2021. Almost all of them will leave without replacement, because Washington has suddenly tightened the visa procedure,” Antonov said.
After joining January 2021, in the Joe Biden White House, the Russian authorities, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, offered the new administration to “nullify” the diplomatic conflict between the countries, which began under Barack Obama, but Washington decided to “slide along the same slope,” rejecting Moscow’s proposal. On April 15, 2021, the United States expelled ten diplomats working at the Russian Embassy in Washington, among whom, according to the American side, there are “representatives of the Russian intelligence services.” These measures were taken in connection with the “interference” of Russia in the US elections in 2020 and “cyberattacks on a number of US ministries.”
