US authorities have decided to expel 60 Russian diplomats and close the Russian consulate in Seattle, an administration official said at a special briefing on Monday.
The diplomats being expelled from the US include 48 embassy staff and 12 members of Russia’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations.
While speaking about the members of Russia’s Permanent Mission to the UN, the US administration official alleged that they were involved in “aggressive collection here in the US” thus abusing their residence privileges under the UN headquarters agreement.
The Russian diplomats are supposed to leave the United States within a week.
The official added that Washington was ready to take additional steps should the need arise.
At the same time, he noted that Washington planned to leave the door open for dialogue with Moscow.