US expels two Russian diplomats to retaliate for the expulsion of two American diplomats from Moscow

By MATTHEW LEE
AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has ordered two Russian diplomats expelled from the United States in retaliation for the expulsion of two U.S. diplomats from Moscow last month. The State Department says it took the action in response to Russia declaring the two American diplomats persona non grata because of contacts with a Russian national who had once worked for the now-closed U.S. consulate in Russia’s far-eastern city of Vladivostok and was arrested this year. Spokesman Matthew Miller said: “The department will not tolerate the Russian government’s pattern of harassment of our diplomats.” The expulsions come at a time of animosity over the war in Ukraine and as diplomatic relations have plummeted to their worst level since the Cold War.