MOSCOW: Russia expelled 59 diplomats from 23 countries on Friday and saidit reserved the right to take action against four other nations in aworsening standoff with the West over the poisoning of a former Russian spyand his daughter in Britain.
Russia said it was responding to what it called the baseless demands forscores of its own diplomats to leave a slew of mostly Western countriesthat have joined London and Washington in censuring Moscow over thepoisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
A day earlier, Moscow ordered the expulsion of 60 U.S. diplomats and theclosing of the US consulate in St Petersburg, Russia’s second city, inretaliation for the biggest ejection of diplomats since the Cold War.
Preparations appeared to be underway on Friday to close the St Petersburgmission down, with a removals truck making repeated journeys to and fromthe consulate which took delivery of a large pizza order for its staff.
Russia summoned senior envoys on Friday from most of the other countriesthat have expelled Russian diplomats and told them it was expelling acommensurate number of theirs.
Russia has already retaliated in kind against Britain for ejecting 23diplomats over the first known use of a military-grade nerve agent onEuropean soil since World War Two. British ambassador Laurie Bristow hassummoned again on Friday.