The United States asked 12 Russian diplomats to the United Nations to leave the country due to their alleged involvement in “activities that were inconsistent with their duties and obligations as diplomats.”
This is with reference to the statement of the US Ambassador, US Deputy Representative to the UN Richard Mills, CNN reports.
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya, commenting on this information, said that he considers Mills' explanation about the expulsion “unsatisfactory.”
The US Mission to the UN also stressed in a statement that the 12 Russian diplomats were “intelligence operatives … who abused their US residency privileges by engaging in espionage activities that harm our national security.”
“We are taking these actions in accordance with the headquarters agreement. Today's action has been in development for several months, said US mission spokeswoman Olivia Dalton.
The names of 12 diplomats who will have to leave the US have not been released. However, Nebenzia claims that a letter delivered to the Russian mission to the UN states that persona non grata will have to leave the country by March 7.
