22 Countries Including U.S. Expel Over 100 Russian Diplomats In Coordinated Act Over Russian Mole Poisoning In UK

The United Kingdom and its North American and European allies are expelling over a hundred Russian diplomats in a coordinated response to the poisoning of a former Russian spy in the UK. The expulsion is said to be the largest collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers in history.

Fourteen European Union countries announced today they are to expel a total of 30 Russian diplomats in a coordinated international response to the nerve agent attack on a former spy in Britain.

Germany, France and Poland led the way in Europe with four expulsions each, while across the Atlantic, Canada expelled four diplomats while rejecting the credentials of three more. "The four have been identified as intelligence officers or individuals who have used their diplomatic status to undermine Canada's security or interfere in our democracy," Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement.

The United States government announced it was throwing out the largest number – 60 Russian officials and closing the Russian consulate in Seattle.

Most governments have said that the expulsions are of Russian officials who have been identified as spies/ intelligence officers rather than diplomats.

Russia has vowed to retaliate to the "provocative gesture". In fact a Russian Embassy Twitter handle has asked Russians to vote for which U.S. embassy they want closed.

But analysts say the Russians are waiting to see if the expulsion of diplomats will be followed by targeted action against individuals or organizations. They say the Russian government is willing to tolerate actions that don’t affect financial operations or the functioning of Russian organizations abroad.

The European Union leaders agreed last week it was highly likely Russia was behind the nerve-agent poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, UK earlier this year. "As a direct follow-up to last week's European Council decision to react to Russia within a common framework, already today 14 member states have decided to expel Russian diplomats," EU President Donald Tusk told a news conference in Varna, Bulgaria. He added, "Additional measures including further expulsions are not to be excluded in the coming days and weeks."

UK Prime Minister Theresa May said: "President Putin's regime is carrying out acts of aggression against our shared values and interests within our continent and beyond…As a sovereign European democracy, the United Kingdom will stand shoulder to shoulder with the EU and with Nato to face down these threats together."

Among those nations not following the coordinated action, Austria said it stood behind the recall of the EU envoy but would not take "any national measures" as it wanted to "keep the channels of communication to Russia open".

But, the scale of the co-ordinated diplomatic response implies the action of the Western governments is an attempt to send a larger message to Moscow as Vladimir Putin has faced off against NATO in Georgia, Crimea and Syria over the last decade.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 27, 2018 06:03 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).