Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced today that 10 U.S. diplomats are being declared personae non gratae and ordered out of Russia, as part of what he labeled a “tit-for-tat response” to President Biden’s actions on April 15. He also matched the U.S. by barring eight Americans from entering Russia: FBI Director Christopher Wray, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, Director of Federal Bureau of Prisons Michael Carvajal, former National Security Advisor John Bolton, and former CIA Director James Woolsey. He indicated that further actions, if provoked, would include imposing “painful measures” on U.S. businesses in Russia, and expelling 100 of the 450 staff at the American Embassy, to match the 350 Russians at their Embassy.
President Vladimir Putin, according to the Kremlin met with his Security Council today: “There was a conversation about measures in response to the U.S. sanctions imposed on our country the day before,” reported Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Also, military construction was high on the agenda, and Putin informed the Council of his call with Biden.
