US senators call for expulsion of 300 Russian diplomats.
Senators from two US parties have called on the president to expel 300 Russian diplomats from the United States unless more visas are issued to Americans working in Washington.
As diplomatic tensions between Washington and Moscow escalate, a number of US senators have called for the expulsion of more Russian diplomats.
Democrat and Republican senators on Tuesday called on US President Joe Biden to expel 300 Russian diplomats from the United States if no more visas were issued to Americans working in Washington.
According to Reuters, the proposal, made by Democratic senators Bob Menendez and Mark Warner, and Republican senators Jim Risch and Marco Rubio as chairmen of the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees, has exacerbated the current rift between Washington and Moscow revolve around how diplomats work.
Earlier in the day, Russia’s foreign ministry said it had banned the US embassy in Moscow from retaining, hiring or hiring Russian or foreign staff except guards, and had to lay off 182 staff and dozens of contractors.
U.S. senators said Moscow’s move meant that only 100 U.S. diplomats were present in Russia, while 400 Russian diplomats were stationed across the United States.
“This mismatch in diplomatic representation is unacceptable,” the senators wrote in a letter to Biden, according to Reuters. Accordingly, Russia must issue a sufficient visa to bring the parity between the number of US diplomats in Russia and the number of Russian diplomats stationed in the United States closer. “If Moscow does not do that, Biden will have to expel 300 Russian diplomats.”
According to the report, the White House and the State Department have not yet responded to a Reuters question for comment.
Earlier, the US House of Representatives passed an amendment to the defense budget bill that advises the White House to include 35 Russian citizens, including ministers, businessmen and journalists, in the sanctions list. According to US lawmakers, these individuals could be involved in human rights abuses.
The Russian president recently extended a decree extending some special economic measures against countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia. According to Putin’s decree, the decree, issued on August 6, 2014, will be extended until December 31, 2022.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said the Russian president would act wisely in response to US sanctions against Russian officials and citizens.
