Russia's ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antoniov, has said that 27 Russian diplomats and their families have been expelled from the United States and will leave on January 30.
"Our diplomats are being expelled," Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov told a live video interview with Solovov on Saturday, according to Reuters. A large group of my colleagues (27 people) with their families will leave us on January 30. We are facing severe staff shortages.Russia has previously said that more than 100 of its diplomats, including their families, were forced to leave the United States in 2016, when relations between the two countries soured.
As of October 29, about 200 Russian diplomats were on duty in the United States, including staff from the Russian mission to the United Nations, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
The U.S. government said last month that the staff of the U.S. mission in Russia was 1,200 in early 2017, which had dropped to 120 due to successive evictions and sanctions, and that anything other than the presence of a guard at the embassy It was difficult to continue.
The U.S. embassy in Moscow, meanwhile, suspended non-diplomatic visas this year and added Russians to its list of "homeless citizens" who could apply for visas in other countries.
