AKIPRESS.COM - The Trump administration joined nearly two dozen other countries in expelling more than 100 Russian spies and diplomats Monday in what British Prime Minister Theresa May called the “largest collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers in history," Washington Post reported.
Sixty Russians were expelled from the United States alone in retaliation for the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain. Twelve Russian diplomats at the United Nations in New York and 48 at the Russian Embassy in Washington face expulsion within seven days. The United States also ordered the closure of the Russian Consulate in Seattle.
In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the March 4 attack in Britain was the latest in Russia’s “ongoing pattern of destabilizing activities around the world.”
“With these steps, the United States and our allies and partners make clear to Russia that its actions have consequences,” she said.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry called the expulsions an “unfriendly step” that “will not pass unnoticed.”