SAHARA REPORTERS
The United States of America has vowed to retaliate Russia’s “unprovoked” expulsion of its diplomats for their work with an embassy contractor.
The United State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, who made this known on Thursday, was quoted as saying that “This unprovoked expulsion of our diplomatic personnel is wholly without merit.
“We regret that Russia has taken this path and you can certainly expect that we will respond appropriately to their actions.”
The CNN reports that the Russian government expelled two US diplomats for allegedly maintaining contact with a Russian national who worked for the US Mission and they were accused by Moscow of being an “informant.”
Russian Foreign Ministry and the US Embassy in Moscow, US Ambassador Lynne Tracy, was reportedly summoned to the ministry on Thursday and informed that the two diplomats – Jeffrey Sillin and David Bernstein – have been declared as “persona non grata,” which means they have to leave the country within a week.
The US Department Spokesperson, Miller, did not say how or when exactly the US would be responding beyond “expeditiously,” but said that “Yet again, Russia has chosen confrontation and escalation over constructive diplomatic engagement,” adding that “It continues to harass employees of our embassy, just as it continues to intimidate its own citizens.”
However, Miller said the expelled diplomats have not yet left Russia.
THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED IN SAHARA REPORTERS
