Diplomatic staff cuts continue: 30 more Russian diplomats leave US

Russia said January 28 that the planned January expulsion of 27 Russian diplomats from the United States would leave the Russian embassy with 184 staff, reports Yahoo! News.

Photo: Shutterstock

The US has demanded that 55 Russian diplomats leave the country this year. 27 people were supposed to leave this month, and the rest should return to Russia by June 30, 2022. This is a response to the actions of Russia.

The administration of President Joe Biden said in October that after a series of expulsions and restrictions, the staff of the US diplomatic mission in Russia was reduced from 1200, which worked at the beginning of 2017, to 120 people. The US Embassy in Moscow stopped issuing non-diplomatic visas this year and added Russians in the list of "homeless nations"who can apply for a visa in third countries.

On the subject: A meeting was held at the Pentagon on the topic of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine: what they talked about

How the number of US and Russian diplomatic missions has been reduced since 2016

29 декабря 2016 года

The United States expelled 35 Russian diplomats for violating diplomatic activities, recalls with the BBC. The United States closed access to two residential complexes - the so-called suburban "dachas" of the Russian permanent mission in New York and the embassy in Washington (against the backdrop of Russia's accusations of interference in the presidential election and cyberattacks).

July 28, 2017

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that from August 1, it will suspend the US Embassy's access to the dacha in Serebryany Bor and storage facilities on Dorozhnaya Street in Moscow (in response to the adoption of the law on anti-Russian sanctions by the US Senate).

July 30, 2017

Russia proposed that the United States reduce the US diplomatic missions in Russia by 755 people - to 455 employees - and thus equate the number of employees of the US Embassy in Russia with the number of employees in the Russian diplomatic mission in the United States. The USA complied with Russia's demand in August. The United States in response demanded that the Russian consulate in San Francisco and two consular facilities in Washington and New York be closed until September 2.

26 March 2018 year

The United States is expelling 60 Russian diplomats—48 members of the diplomatic mission and another 12 members of the UN mission—and demanding the closure of the Russian Consulate General in Seattle. This happened against the backdrop of accusations by Russia of an attempt on the life of former GRU officer Sergei Skripal in British Salisbury.

29 March 2018 year

Russia withdraws consent to the work of the US Consulate General in St. Petersburg and expels 60 American diplomats.

April 15 2021 years

The US is expelling ten Russian diplomats from Washington DC and New York due to alleged Moscow interference in the elections and cyberattacks through SolarWinds.

January 30 2021 years

27 Russian diplomats are leaving the United States in fulfillment of the three-year stay limit in America for employees of Russian diplomatic missions.

In total, according to various sources, there are now 120-130 American diplomats left in Russia, and 184 Russian ones in America.

Currently only available in the US three consulates of the Russian Federation, and they are all located on the east coast:

Consular Section of the Russian Embassy in the USA (Washington)

• Address: 2641 Tunlaw Road, NW, Washington, DC 20007
• Phone: (202) 939-8914, 939-8913 (on weekdays 9:00 - 12:00; 15:00 - 18:00).

Consulate General of the Russian Federation in New York, USA

• Address: 9 East 91 Street, New York, NY 10128. Nearest subway station: 86th street (trains 4, 5, 6)
• Phone: (212) 534-3782, (212) 348-0750 fax: (212) 831-9162

Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Houston, USA

• Address: 1333 West Loop South, Ste.1300, Houston, TX 77027.
• Phone: (713) 337-3300, fax (713) 337-3305

The intensity of passions does not weaken

“The Russian side stands for the creation of normal living conditions for diplomats in the United States and Russia,” Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on January 28. “Our proposal to cancel all restrictions, including visa restrictions, remains in force.”

At the same time, Antonov also said last week that the US State Department had raised the question of his possible expulsion: “At recent meetings at the State Department, our employees were clearly told that the Russian ambassador would be forced to leave the United States by April if we did not fulfill a number of US conditions for providing visas to the guards of the American Ambassador in Moscow.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on January 28 called “rudeness” the US demand to immediately grant visas to Ambassador Sullivan’s guards and the threat to otherwise ask Ambassador Antonov to leave Washington.

US Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried told the Dozhd TV channel (recognized in Russia as a media outlet acting as a foreign agent) that she “knows nothing about the rumors.” The US State Department did not respond to the BBC's question whether Antonov faces deportation.

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Throughout the history of diplomatic relations between the United States and Russia, there have been cases of expulsion of diplomats, but the countries most actively began to reduce each other’s diplomatic missions in 2016, after Russia was accused of interfering in the American elections.

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