The building of U.S. Embassy in Moscow. Moscow Times
Shaun Walker, The Guardian: What will be the ramifications of Putin's order to reduce US embassy staff?
Russia’s surprise move is so severe that if it goes ahead it is likely to paralyse the work of US diplomats in Russia – depending on how the details shake out.
When it comes to diplomatic expulsions, Vladimir Putin likes to pull a surprise.
When the outgoing Barack Obama administration kicked out 35 Russian diplomats in December, the Russian president was widely expected to make a symmetrical response, but surprised everyone by doing nothing at all – apparently in the hope that relations would become rosier when Donald Trump took office.
Now, seven months later, the response has finally come, and Putin had another surprise up his sleeve: this time, the Russian move is so severe that if it goes ahead it is likely to paralyse the work of US diplomats in Russia.
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WNU Editor: There goes the support staff (i.e. cleaners, office gophers, the gardeners, chauffeurs, etc.).