Russia expulsion of U.S. diplomats a ‘deterioration’ in relations, White House says

The White House said Thursday that Moscow’s tit-for-tat decision to expel 60 U.S. diplomats “marks a further deterioration in the United States-Russia relationship.”

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Russia’s response to the U.S. expelling 60 alleged Russian intelligence officers earlier this week “was not unanticipated, and the United States will deal with it.”

“The expulsion of undeclared Russian intelligence officers by the United States and more than two dozen partner nations and NATO allies earlier this week was an appropriate response to the Russian attack on the soil of the United Kingdom,” she said.

The U.S. and more than 20 other nations took coordinated action this week to expel more 130 Russian operatives in retaliation for the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain. His daughter and a police officer also were poisoned.