The Russian Foreign Ministry declared ten employees of the US Embassy in Russia persona non grata. US Deputy Ambassador to Moscow, Bart Gorman, received the corresponding note on Wednesday, April 21.
According to Russian Foreign Ministry representatives, the US diplomats were ordered to leave the country by the end of the day on May 21, TASS reports.
The news about the upcoming expulsion of US diplomats became known last week, when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that it would be Russia's response to the expulsion of ten 10 employees of Russian diplomatic institutions from the United States.
The statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry also said that further steps would follow in the near future within the framework of the "complex of retaliatory measures" in response to the introduction of the new package of US sanctions.
According to most recent information, Russia has blacklisted eight current and former heads of US law enforcement agencies.
The US administration imposed sanctions against Moscow last week in response to alleged hacker attacks, election interference and other hostile actions. In addition to the expulsion of diplomats, the US barred American residents from conducting operations with Russian government debt bonds. Moscow called the sanctions unreasonable.
The American diplomats were given a month to leave Russia.