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Moscow expects Washington to let Russian diplomats return home safely

In September 2021, the United States ordered 55 Russian diplomatic employees to leave the country

MOSCOW, June 29. /TASS/. Moscow anticipates that Washington will let Russian diplomats ordered to leave the United States to return safely to their home country, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters on Wednesday.

"Some of them have already left, others are about to return home. I hope that the US authorities will let them wrap up their affairs and allow them to safely return to their native country so that there are no more difficulties or any games of nerves that have joined the discussions of a possible special flight. Unfortunately, it didn’t work because the Americans had started to set additional conditions that had nothing to do with the essence of the matter," Ryabkov noted.

"They took connecting commercial flights and all that. It is regrettable but there was just no other option," the deputy foreign minister added.

In September 2021, the United States ordered 55 Russian diplomatic employees to leave the country in 2022 in two stages, 27 of them departed by January 30 and another 28 by June 30. The US attributed the move to a three-year stay limit for diplomats introduced by Washington in December 2020. Washington does not view the process as an expulsion though it has warned that if any diplomats refuse to leave the country, they will be stripped of their immunity and arrested. In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced tit-for-tat measures. US embassy employees who had worked in Moscow for over three years left the country by January 31, 2022. Another group of US diplomatic employees will have to depart Russia by July 1, 2022, unless the United States lifts the stay limit.