Putin retaliates, orders 755 US diplomatic staff to leave Russia

Russian president, Vladimir Putin has ordered 755 US diplomatic staff  to leave the US diplomatic missions in Russia, in what is thought to be the largest expulsion of diplomats from any country in modern history.

Making the announcement, Putin said Russia had run out of patience waiting for relations with the United States to improve.

We waited for quite a long time that, perhaps, something will change for the better, we held out hope that the situation would somehow change, Putin said in an interview on state-run Rossiya 1 television.

But, judging by everything, if it changes, it will not be soon.

Putin said the staff reduction was meant to cause real discomfort for Washington and its representatives in Moscow.

Over 1,000 employees — diplomats and technical workers — worked and continue to work today in Russia; 755 will have to stop this activity, he said.

That is biting, Putin added.

The decision which was made on Friday in retaliation to new US sanctions against Moscow, gives 755 diplomats which is believed to be more than half of the U.S. embassy staff in the country until September 1 to leave.

US diplomatic staffs at the embassy in Moscow as well as those at the consulates in Ekaterinburg, Vladivostok and St. Petersburg are affected by the order, and the exodus will bring the diplomatic workforce to 455 – the same as Russia’s complement in Washington.

The Russian government is also seizing holiday properties and a warehouse used by US diplomats, and Putin may yet consider more measures.

The measures were the harshest such diplomatic move since a similar rupture in 1986, in the waning days of the Soviet Union.

The US has criticized the move saying it was a “regrettable and uncalled for act”.

We are assessing the impact of such a limitation and how we will respond to it, a state department official said.