The White House says Russia’s expulsion of 60 American diplomats was “not unanticipated” and the U.S. “will deal with it.”
Russia kicked out the Americans in retaliation for the U.S. expelling 60 Russian diplomats earlier in the week as punishment for Moscow’s alleged involvement in the poisoning of a former spy and his daughter in Britain. NATO allies and other U.S. partners overseas also kicked out Russians.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says those actions were “an appropriate response” to the poisoning on British soil. She says Russia’s move to retaliate “marks a further deterioration in the United States-Russia relationship.”
