Russia Expels 23 British Diplomats, Escalating Row Over Ex-Spy’s Poisoning

Russia on Saturday ordered 23 British diplomats to leave the country within a week, escalating a diplomatic row after a former spy and his daughter were poisoned on British soil.
The British ambassador to Russia, Laurie Bristow, leaving the Foreign Ministry in Moscow on Saturday.CreditGleb Garanich/Reuters
The British ambassador to Russia, Laurie Bristow, leaving the Foreign Ministry in Moscow on Saturday.CreditGleb Garanich/Reuters 

The order came days after Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain expelled the same number of Russian diplomats and called off high-level contacts between the two governments. 

The Russians’ actions — which included an order to shut the British Council, a cultural and educational organization, in Russia and to revoke permission for the British consulate general in St. Petersburg — came after the British ambassador, Laurie Bristow, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Moscow on Saturday morning.

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