REUTERS
Russia announces 35 U.S. diplomats persona non grata - those are 31 employees of the embassy in Moscow and four of the consulate general in St. Petersburg, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday, according to TASS.
"We, of course, cannot leave unanswered the insults of the kind, reciprocity is the law of diplomacy and foreign relations," he said, TASS reports. "Thus, the Russian Foreign Ministry and officials of other authorities have presented to the Russian president suggestions regarding announcing persona non grata 31 personnel of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and four diplomats from the Consulate General in St. Petersburg."
Washington’s accusations that the Russian state was behind attempts to meddle in the U.S. presidential election are groundless, Lavrov said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Washington imposed additional sanctions on Russia in response to Moscow's interference in U.S. elections.
The United States expelled 35 Russian diplomats and closed two Russian compounds in New York and Maryland in response to a campaign of harassment against American diplomats in Moscow.
"These actions are not the sum total of our response to Russia's aggressive activities. We will continue to take a variety of actions at a time and place of our choosing, some of which will not be publicized," Obama said in a statement.