Moscow-Sana
Today, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked the employees of the US Embassy who have spent more than 3 years in Moscow to leave at the end of next month.
Russia Today website quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying in a press statement: “We consider the American demand for Russian diplomats to leave its territory specifically as an expulsion, and we intend to respond accordingly. Moscow for more than three years.
She added, "This was not the choice of Russia, but rather the United States that launched such a game."
It is noteworthy that the US State Department unilaterally set in 2020 the duration of stay for employees of the Russian Embassy in Washington and the Consulates General in New York and Houston at only 3 years.
In another context, Zakharova announced that a meeting will be held between Minister Sergey Lavrov and his American counterpart Anthony Blinken on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council, which will be held in the Swedish capital, Stockholm.
On the sidelines of the council, bilateral meetings are scheduled between the Russian Minister and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and with the current OSCE President, the Swedish Foreign Minister, the Secretary-General of the Organization, the US Secretary of State and the Foreign Ministers of Austria, Britain, Hungary, Spain, Serbia and Turkey Pointing out that these meetings are scheduled on the sidelines of the Council from the second to the third of December.