WORLD

US senators want expulsion of 300 Russian diplomats

Some US senators want to expel 300 Russian diplomats. Several senators from both the Democrat and Republican camps made the demand to U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday (October 5th).

The senators demanded that 300 Russian diplomats be expelled from the United States if Moscow did not grant a sufficient number of US diplomats to represent Washington in Russia. They have also written to President Biden in this regard.

The suggestion from the leaders of the Senate foreign relations and intelligence committees – Democrats Bob Menendez and Mark Warner and Republicans Jim Risch and Marco Rubio – would mark a sharp escalation in an ongoing dispute over embassy staffing amid tension between Washington and Moscow.

Russia in August banned the U.S. embassy in Moscow from retaining, hiring or contracting Russian or third-country staff, except for guards, forcing the mission to let go 182 employees and dozens of contractors, the State Department said.

That meant there are only about 100 U.S. diplomats in Russia, compared with 400 Russian diplomats across the United States, the senators said.

“This disproportionality in diplomatic representation is unacceptable. Accordingly, Russia must issue enough visas to approach parity between the number of American diplomats serving in Russia and the number of Russian diplomats serving in the United States,” the senators wrote in a letter to Biden.

If Moscow does not do so, they said Biden should begin expelling as many as 300 Russian diplomats.

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