Russia Expels 2 U.S. Diplomats

Washington.D.C/15/09/23/Turan: The State Department on Thursday condemned Russia for declaring two U.S. diplomats “persona non grata" and ordering them to leave the country, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

“Yet again, Russia has chosen confrontation and escalation over constructive diplomatic engagement. It continues to harass employees of our embassy, just as it continues to intimidate its own citizens." State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a daily briefing.

"We regret that Russia has taken this path and you can certainly expect that we will respond appropriately to their actions,” he added.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the first secretary at the U.S. Embassy, Jeffrey Sillin, and the second secretary, David Bernstein, “kept in touch” with a former employee of the U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok who was arrested earlier this year. The ex-employee was accused of collecting information for U.S. diplomats about Russia’s military action in Ukraine and related issues.

According to the statement, U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy was summoned to the ministry on Thursday and informed that Sillin and Bernstein were being expelled.

When asked by TURAN's correspondent if the State Department also summoned the Russian Ambassador, Miller said, "I don’t want to speak to exactly the steps that we are taking to respond, but you can certainly expect that we will do so."

Alex Raufoglu