RUSSIA: MOSCOW ANNOUNCES EXPLUSION OF FOUR U.S. DIPLOMATS ONE DAY AFTER WASHINGTON ANNOUNCED SIMILIAR MEASURES

Record ID: 648238

  • Title: RUSSIA: MOSCOW ANNOUNCES EXPLUSION OF FOUR U.S. DIPLOMATS ONE DAY AFTER WASHINGTON ANNOUNCED SIMILIAR MEASURES
  • Date: 23rd March 2001
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (MARCH 23, 2001)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV/CU: RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY BUILDING/ NAMEPLATE (2 SHOTS) 0.11 2. SV/PAN: AMERICAN DIPLOMATS WALKING OUT OF MINISTRY BUILDING, GETTING INTO CAR, DRIVING AWAY (2 SHOTS) 0.49 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 7th April 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
  • Country: Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVA8YU0LNO11NZ7BOEQ01KK1XYP7
  • Story Text: A day after Moscow said it would match the expulsions
    of 50 Russian diplomats from Washington, the Foreign Ministry
    has confirmed the expulsion of four U.S. diplomats and says it
    will take further steps. Early on Friday three suspected U.S.

    diplomats arrived at the Russian Foreign Ministry.



    An official car bearing U.S. diplomatic licence plates
    drew up at the imposing Stalin skyscraper in central Moscow at
    around 11:30 a.m. (0830 GMT) on Friday (March 23), and three
    men entered the building.

    About 25 minutes later the three left without comment. The
    number of the car indicated the vehicle was that of a senior
    member of the U.S. embassy.

    The men did not comment on the reason for their visit or
    the content of their meeting and it was not immediately clear
    whether there was a link to a spy row between Moscow and
    Washington.

    But their visit came less than 24 hours after Russian
    Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Russia would take "an
    adequate response" for America's banishment of four Russian
    diplomats and the ejection of 46 others by July 01.

    Officials at the U.S. mission were unable to confirm
    whether a senior diplomat had been summoned to the ministry to
    hear Russia's response to Washington's expulsion of 50 Russian
    diplomats for spying.

    Later on Friday morning the Russian Foreign Ministry
    confirmed that Russia had ordered four U.S. diplomats to leave
    the country for "activities incompatible with their status."
    Russia has described the U.S. expulsions, the biggest
    since the end of the Cold War, as a political and "deeply
    unfriendly" move.

    The U.S. ambassador, James Collins, had left Moscow late
    on Thursday for a previously planned tour of cities in Siberia
    and other Russian provinces.


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