Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov (Photo: TASS)

Antonov said the US administration is doing everything it can to shrink Russia’s diplomatic presence in the US. Russia has opened consulates in Houston and New York but right now they have no diplomats nor employees. At the request of the US, Russian diplomats and their families have left the US earlier than they had planned.

Atonov said that under the circumstances, Russia cannot consider the US request as anything other than an expulsion, an unfriendly, hostile move against the Russian Federation. More than 120 Russian diplomats and embassy employees have been expelled from the US recently.