By Andrew Young-
The US has ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian Diplomats who Washington says are spies, including a dozen based at the United Nations.
EU members Germany, France, and Poland are all scheduled to expel four Russian diplomats with intelligence agency backgrounds. The Czech Republic and Lithuania have followed suit but limiting the number of expulsions to three, whilst Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands are expelling two each.
Ukraine has expressed plans to expel 13 Russian diplomats, whilst Canada will expel four. The Russian consulate in Seattle is also being closed as part of the US’s package of punitive measures. A senior U.S official said that the consulate closure and the expulsions would be carried out “in solidarity with our closest allies” in reaction to what he said was “a reckless attempt by the [Russian] government to murder a British citizen and his daughter with a military grade nerve agent”.
Another official said the measures were also intended as a response to a “steady drumbeat of destabilizing and aggressive actions” by Moscow against the U.S and its allies. 48 of the U.S envoys to be expelled are said to be based at the Russian embassy in Washington and the others are at the UN in New York.
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With the U.S, the EU, and many parts of the world playing their own role in expelling Russian diplomats from their countries, Russia is effectively being isolated. Russia has promised to retaliate against Washington, but have not mentioned any plans to do the same against all the other countries involved. The Russian government has continued to claim innocence in relation to the allegation that Moscow was behind the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia. The Kremlin stress there is no single fact to support the allegation made by the U.K, and have accused announcements blaming Russia for the poisoning of Skripal as irresponsible.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has condemned the EU for its “perverted interpretation of solidarity” with the UK. However, the British Government claims the nature of the poisoning and the fact the nerve agent was from Russia , is convincing that they were behind the attack.
The unified action taking against Russia is a necessary step of a combined force of action if Russia truly executes deadly poisonous attacks like this. Evidence has not been provided to prove the guilt of the Russian government, and in that sense actions against them should be limited. If on the other hand, their guilt is obvious from all the facts known and considered, the measures taken should send a message to Russia that such criminal action on UK soil will not be tolerated. Russia so far have responded critically to the
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