MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has ordered 60 U.S. diplomats to leave by April 5, the foreign ministry said on Thursday, in a retaliatory move against Washington which expelled a similar number of Russian diplomats over the poisoning of a Russian spy in England. The foreign ministry said it had declared persona non grata 58 diplomats in Moscow and two general consulate officials in Yekaterinburg in the row over the poisoning of former Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal on March 4. They include expulsion of the equivalent number of diplomats and they include our decision to withdraw our agreement to allow the United States’ general consulate to operate in St. Petersburg,” Lavrov told a briefing. Russia has denied involvement in the attack on the Skripals and says it suspects the British secret services are trying to frame Russia to stoke anti-Russian hysteria. Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence who betrayed Russian agents to Britain and then was exchanged in a spy swap deal, is still in a critical condition from the attack.

Source: Huffington Post March 29, 2018 17:43 UTC