Russia-US row ends in tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats



In a tit for tat expulsion of diplomats reminiscent of the Cold War, Russia said on Saturday it had expelled two U.S. Embassy staff members after a similar ‘unfriendly’ move by Washington in June.

The United States expelled two Russian officials in response to what it described as a Russian policeman’s attack on a U.S. diplomat in Moscow earlier in the month, the State Department said on Friday.

A Russian pro-government TV station, NTV, aired footage which is said showed the incident.

“On June 17, we expelled two Russian officials from the United States in response to this attack,” State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters, declining to provide further details about the expulsions.

In his first detailed comments about the June 6 incident, Kirby contradicted the account provided by Russia’s Foreign Ministry, which said the policeman was trying to protect the embassy by checking the man’s documents.

“On the 6th of June an accredited U.S. diplomat, who identified himself, in accordance with embassy protocols entering the American embassy compound, was attacked by a Russian policeman,” Kirby told reporters.

“The action was unprovoked and it endangered the safety of our employee. The Russian claim the policeman was protecting the embassy from an unidentified individual is simply untrue,” he added.

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman has said the police officer had wanted to check the man’s documents to establish he was not a threat to embassy security, but was elbowed in the face when he tried to challenge him. She said the embassy employee was a CIA agent operating under diplomatic cover.

Washington, whose dealings with Moscow have been strained by the Syrian civil war, Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and U.S. allegations that Moscow has increasingly harassed its diplomats, had tried to deal with the issue quietly.

On Thursday, Kirby disclosed that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had raised the incident with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on June 7 and said that Washington wanted to deal with it in private talks between the governments.

-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-07-10

It appeared to me to be an ad hoc exhibition of Russian tag-team wrestling.

I guess it's better than having tit-for-tat nuclear detonations on target.

This what happens when idiots in charge can't find common language to make an agreement and follow on it. Power - money - brain wash - "democratic" dictatorship. Escalation of tensions, arms race, billions down the hole of taxpayers tax could make the war inevitable with millions of dead. Thomas Malthus will smile in disgust. Those in charge directly and indirectly will not be affected, naturally. For them it is all about money and power, just a game. They forgot that they were born naked and die naked too. Memento mori.

Take your toys out of my sandbox and go to your own home...I am going to tell my mommy on you!