US expells 2 Russian diplomats after Moscow declared 2 US diplomats 'persona non grata' last month

The US has expelled two Russian diplomats from Moscow’s embassy in Washington, the State Department announced on Friday. The move comes in response to what a State Department spokesperson described as “Russia’s specious expulsion of two US Embassy Moscow diplomats” last month. The spokesperson added that “the State Department reciprocated by declaring persona non grata two Russian Embassy officials operating in the United States.” In an emailed statement, the spokesperson said, “The Department will not tolerate the Russian government’s pattern of harassment of our diplomats.” “The Department’s actions send a clear message that unacceptable actions against our Embassy personnel in Moscow will have consequences,” the email read. Last month, the US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry and was told that two US diplomats – Jeffrey Sillin and David Bernstein – had been declared persona non grata, which meant that they had two week’s time to leave Russia. The ministry defended its action by saying, “These persons carried out illegal activities, maintaining contact with Russian citizen (Robert) Shonov, accused of ‘confidential cooperation’ with a foreign state, who was given tasks for financial compensation aimed at harming the national security of the Russian Federation.” It further said that Ambassador Tracy was given “a harsh demarche with the presentation of an official note regarding the incompatibility with the diplomatic status of the actions of the First Secretary of the US Embassy Jeffrey Sillin and the Second Secretary of the Embassy David Bernstein.” According to the Russian state media outlet TASS, Shonov, a Russian diplomat who worked for the US Consulate in Vladivostok, was arrested for his involvement in “confidential cooperation” with a foreign government.