92 Russian diplomats expelled as US, EU, Australia unite against Russia over spy poisoning case

In a coordinated international response to the Salisbury nerve agent attack on a former spy in Britain, the United States, European Union and Australia announced expulsion of Russian diplomats from the countries.

United States ordered expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats describing them as  “intelligence officers” and at the same time ordered closure of the country’s consulate in Seattle. In a similar development, fourteen countries of the European Union too announced on Tuesday that they are to expel a total of 30 Russian diplomats. Australia also announced that it would expel two Russian diplomats over the UK spy attack.

In US a dozen of these expelled diplomats are based at Russia's Permanent Mission to the UN. There are 100 Russian intelligence officials based in the US, this is the first step , a senior Trump administration official told reporters during a conference call. The US reserves the right to expel more, the official added.

In a statement of White House released by the Press Secretary Sarah Sanders it was stated that:

"Today President Donald J. Trump ordered expulsion of dozens of Russian intelligence officers from the United States and the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle due to its proximity to one of our submarine bases and Boeing. The US takes this action in conjunction with our NATO allies and partners around the world in response to Russia’s use of a military-grade chemical weapon on the soil of the United Kingdom, the latest in its ongoing pattern of destabilising activities around the world. Today’s actions male the US safer by reducing Russia’s ability to spy on Americans and to conduct covert operations that threaten America’s national security. With these steps, the United States and our allies and partners make clear to Russia that its actions have consequences. The United States stand ready to cooperate  to build a better relationship with Russia but this can only happen with a change in the Russian government’s behaviour."

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