On Friday, Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement, which ordered a number of US diplomats to leave the country in just about a month. The decision came hours after the US senate had put new sanctions on Russia, which had Donald Trump take a hard decision on Moscow. The order by Russian foreign ministry also suggests seizing properties belonging to US diplomats within Russia.
Vladimir Putin has warned the US of its unreasonable behaviour saying that Russia will need to retaliate if the situation persists. The US has been continuously blaming Russia of affecting the presidential results last year, however, Moscow has been denying that throughout.
In the statement today, Russian foreign ministry has asked the US to withdraw the diplomats and leave the number to a maximum of 455 before September 1st. The statement also added that the US has been playing with the rights of other nations by practising its exceptionalism, which is not acceptable by Russia or the other countries. However, the statement did not mention the number of diplomats, who will need to leave the country after the announcement.
One of the diplomats in Russia, on the condition of anonymity, said that there are about 1100 US diplomats in Russia and the number includes Russian citizens as well as US citizens.