The proposal of American senators to expel 300 Russian diplomats is in the nature of an emotional demand, Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian president, told reporters.
“In order to expel so many diplomats, you first need to have such a number – this, again, is rather an emotional demand. People apparently don’t even know how many Russian diplomats work there, ”Peskov said.
What is happening in relations between Moscow and Washington leads to the suffering of the peoples of both countries, the Kremlin spokesman said. According to him, the actions of the American authorities are aimed at a complete curtailment of relations with Russia.
“The Russians who cannot get visas are suffering, the Americans who cannot get visas are suffering. What is happening in our bilateral relations generally leads to the suffering of the peoples of the two countries. Let’s just say that the actions of Washington, which have already been going on for several years, aimed at the complete curtailment of these relations and, moreover, such aggressive actions that were taken by the previous administration – I mean the seizure of our diplomatic property – did not lead to anything good, ” said the spokesman for the Russian leader.
On October 5, four US Republican and Democratic senators – Marco Rubio, Mark Warner, Jim Riesch, and Bob Menendez – called on Joe Biden to “take immediate action” to increase the staffing of the US Embassy in Moscow. In the event that the Russian government does not agree with this proposal, the senators called on Biden to expel 300 Russian diplomats from the country.
The Russian Foreign Ministry, commenting on the senators’ appeal, suggested that American senators are seeking the closure of their foreign offices in Russia.
On April 23, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree according to which embassies and consulates of countries committing unfriendly actions towards Russia were prohibited from hiring people on Russian territory, and already concluded labor contracts were ordered to be terminated. The list of unfriendly countries includes the United States and the Czech Republic.
Since May 12, the US Embassy in Moscow has stopped issuing any nonimmigrant visas, except diplomatic ones, to Russian citizens, and the number of employees of the American consular department in Moscow has decreased by 75%. On April 1, the issuance of visas was suspended by the US Consulate General in Yekaterinburg, and before that the American diplomatic mission in Vladivostok stopped working.
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