NewsMax.com Wires
Friday, March 23, 2001

Reacting to Washington's decision to kick out four Russian diplomats and a move to expel 46 others by July 1, the ministry summoned U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission John Ordway and informed him of the tit-for-tat expulsion, warning that further steps would be taken against U.S. diplomats working in Russia.

The ministry said it would soon reveal details of plans to curb "unlawful activities" of U.S. representatives in Russia, but did not elaborate.

Ordway was called into the ministry as U.S. Ambassador to Moscow James Collins is in Siberia on a previously arranged trip to open an American library in the city of Irkutsk, diplomatic sources told UPI.

The names of those being expelled were not released, and the embassy had no immediate comment.

On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Washington's actions were politically motivated and baseless, and threatened retaliation in kind.

The United States has so far declared only four Russians personae non grata, but a total of 50 Russian diplomats will have to leave the country by July 1.

The sharp cutback in the number of Russian diplomats in the United States has been called for by the Bush administration on security grounds.

The mass expulsions, the worst since the Cold War days of President Ronald Reagan's presidency, follow the February arrest of FBI veteran Robert Hanssen, who has been accused of handing Moscow secrets over a period of 15 years.

Two Russian diplomats allegedly acting as his handlers have already left the United States, and the State Department has now blacklisted them, barring their return to the United States in the future.

Copyright 2001 by United Press International.

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