MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/. Moscow will consider any visa requests it receives from potential employees who would replace the two diplomats who were expelled from the US embassy, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters on Friday.

"When the Americans submit their [visa] applications, we will duly consider them, but we will be guided by [the principles of] parity and balance," the senior Russian diplomat said as he noted that issuing visas to diplomats was a very complicated process.

When asked by a TASS reporter to comment on the US Department of State’s statement in response to Russia’s decision to expel two American diplomats, Ryabkov called on the United States "not to escalate things." "The employees who were declared personae non gratae conducted activities that ran counter to the Vienna Convention, obviously. So, we will not be able to view any so-called reciprocal moves on the part of the United States as anything less than provocative or escalatory," he warned.

Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that it had summoned US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy and issued her a diplomatic note stating that the actions of the embassy’s first and second secretaries were inconsistent with their diplomatic status. They were declared personae non gratae and will have to leave the country within seven days, the Russian diplomatic agency said.