March 26, 2018

MOSCOW — Moscow will take measures on every country expelling Russian diplomats and respond to the closure of Russia’s Consulate General in Seattle, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the Rossiya 1 television’s Sixty Minutes program on Monday.

"There will be a response to everything we saw today. Appropriate measures will be taken on each country, both regarding the expulsion of diplomats and the closure of the Russian Consulate General in Seattle," Zakharova said.

On Monday, the US administration announced 48 Russian diplomats and 12 members of Russia’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York would be expelled from the country. In addition, the Consulate General in Seattle, Washington, will be closed. The pretext for the expulsion was the poisoning of former Russian military intelligence Colonel Sergei Skripal convicted in Russia of spying for the UK and his daughter Yulia in Britain. According to Britain’s version, they were exposed to a nerve agent in the city of Salisbury. Later on, London claimed that this substance had been developed in Russia accusing Moscow of involvement in the incident. Russia has flatly rejected these allegations pointing out that neither the Soviet Union nor Russia had any programs to develop this substance.

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