Moscow, March 29: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today Moscow would expel 60 US diplomats and close its consulate in Saint Petersburg in a tit-for-tat expulsion over the poisoning of ex-double agent Sergei Skripal.

Lavrov said that the US ambassador had been informed of "retaliatory measures", saying that "they include the expulsion of the equivalent number of diplomats and our decision to withdraw permission for the functioning of the US consulate general in Saint Petersburg".

Washington earlier ordered the expulsion of 60 diplomats and shut down the Russian consulate general in Seattle.