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U.S., allies expel scores of Russians in response to U.K. poisoning

U.S., allies expel scores of Russians in response to U.K. poisoning

Posted March. 28, 2018 07:26,   

Updated March. 28, 2018 07:26

한국어

Twenty three nations are joining the international move to expel Russian diplomats in response to a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in London. The mass international push to condemn Moscow for its involvement in the nerve agent attack is expected to expand as Belgium and Iceland will also announce their deportation plan soon.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who had sent warm rhetoric toward Russia, is taking a proactive role in speaking with foreign leaders and encouraging others to join the efforts. The mass expulsion of Russian diplomats stationed in the West is the largest ever one for a nation.

“It was the biggest such expulsion since the height of the Cold War era and the hostilities with the then Soviet Union,” BBC reported. “There are now fears of a serious diplomatic crisis and a freezing in relations between Moscow and the West which has raised the spectre of the Cold War once again.”

“Based on past practice, Russia will almost certainly retaliate by kicking out western diplomats, echoing the tit-for-tat confrontations of the Cold War,” The New York Times reported.

Russia’s foreign ministry strongly condemned the U.S. and European move, saying that Moscow cannot condone the provocative behavior and President Vladimir Putin would make a final decision about Russia's response.


Jung-Min Dong ditto@donga.com