The US’s continuing imposition of restrictions on Russian diplomats in the US, and the Russian countermeasures, are creating the beginnings of a diplomatic crisis.
On August 2 the United States handed Russia a list of 24 diplomats who are to leave the country by September 3, due to the December 2020 imposition by the US of a unilaterally established three-year limit on the assignment period for Russian personnel in the US. In an interview in The National Interest magazine, Russia’s ambassador, Anatoly Antonov, responded strongly to this latest move.
“Unfortunately, the situation does not change for the better. Russian diplomatic missions in the United States are still forced to work under unprecedented restrictions that not only remain in effect, but are stepped up,” the ambassador said. “Regardless of the [US President Joe] Biden administration’s declarations concerning the important role of diplomacy and willingness to develop stable and predictable relations with our country, the Russian diplomatic presence experiences continuous strikes.”
“U.S. colleagues are persistent and creative in this business. The expulsions of diplomats are implemented under far-fetched pretexts now and then. Last December the State Department unilaterally established a three-year limit on the assignment period for Russian personnel in the United States that, as far as we know, is not applied to any other country. We received a list of twenty-four diplomats who are expected to leave the country before September 3, 2021. Almost all of them will leave without replacements, because Washington has abruptly tightened visa issuing procedures,” Antonov said.
