The Trump administration and its allies around the world expelled hundreds of Russian diplomats earlier this week after a former double agent was poisoned in the UK by operatives thought to be working for the Kremlin.
Putin just kicked out 150 Western diplomats. What comes next could be much worse.
“Relations are now at an even worse place than they were before.”
Now Russia is striking back.
On Thursday, the Kremlin said it would expel 150 Western diplomats — including 60 American officials — and close the US Consulate in St. Petersburg. Top State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said removing 60 US diplomats from Russia was “not justified,” noting it was not a “tit for tat” action.
The Russian move came just three days after the US and other Western countries expelled Kremlin diplomats, many of them spies, from their countries. The US expelled 60 Russian intelligence officers and closed a Russian consulate in Seattle. More than 20 countries also said they would kick out over 100 Russian spies. Even New Zealand tried to kick out Russian spies but couldn’t find any.
“This was unsurprising and to be expected all along,” said Rachel Rizzo, a European security expert at the Center for a New American Security think tank. “The most worrisome aspect of this move, however, is that it makes it clear US-Russia relations are in a continuous downward spiral.”
Donald Trump took office promising to build a closer relationship with Moscow and has steadily avoided criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin or acknowledging that Moscow meddled in the 2016 election. The new expulsions are the latest sign that Putin isn’t particularly impressed by the charm offensive — or particularly concerned about widening the rift with the West.
This is all over the poisoning of a former Russian spy
The prelude to today’s announcement from Russia began on March 4, when Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy, was found unconscious on a bench alongside his daughter Yulia. According to UK Prime Minister Theresa May, they were poisoned with a chemical weapon known as Novichok — one of the world’s most lethal nerve agents — in Salisbury, England, where Skripal lived.
Police now say the Skripals were poisoned at their front door. And while it seemed for weeks neither victim would survive, the Guardian reported on Thursday that Yulia is no longer in critical condition.
After the attack, British authorities immediately accused Russia as the culprit and moved fast to punish Putin for crossing what officials across Europe described as a red line. The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats just days after the attack, the UK’s largest removal of foreign officials in more than 30 years. Then in a joint statement on March 15, the leaders of the US, UK, France, and Germany said it was “highly likely that Russia was responsible for the attack.”
Eleven days later, the US and other countries sent Russian spies posing as diplomats back to the Kremlin. Moscow continues to deny it had anything to do with the murder attempts.
The question now is where relations between Russia and the West go from here. “This is probably it for diplomatic expulsions,” Rizzo told me. “The problem is that relations are now at an even worse place than they were before, and the underlying issues between the two sides still exist.”
Trump, in other words, may still want closer ties between Washington and Moscow. Putin, based on words and deeds, doesn’t.
