The US Deputy Ambassador to Russia received a note announcing the announcement of 10 American diplomats in Moscow persona non grata. They need to leave the Russian Federation before May 22, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Further steps in response to the US sanctions actions will follow in the near future, the diplomatic service added, according to News.ru.
On April 21, the Deputy Head of the US diplomatic mission in the Russian Federation [Bart] Gorman was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry, and he was handed a note announcing “persona non grata” by 10 employees of the US Embassy in Moscow. These persons were ordered to leave the territory of our country by the end of the day on May 21 , –it says in the message on the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
Earlier, the US State Department reported that Ambassador to Moscow John Sullivan will go home in the coming days to hold consultations with members of the new administration, with whom he had no opportunity to communicate after the election of new President Joe Biden, the news agency reported.
He should return to Russia after some time. Shortly before this, the aide to the Russian president, Yuri Ushakov, suggested that Sullivan travel to the United States for consultations. However, the absence of official comments due to the departure of the ambassador raised Moscow’s bewilderment. The official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, previously noted that the American media turn to the Russian department for information, and this causes inconvenience.
Earlier it was reported that the Czech Foreign Ministry on April 21 will announce the expulsion of a new group of Russian diplomats. It is clarified that the expulsion will not affect the Russian Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Alexander Zmeevsky.