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Russian Foreign Ministry Proposes Expelling 35 U.S. Diplomats

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters

The Russian Foreign Ministry has proposed expelling 35 American diplomats from Russia. The plan comes as a proportional response to new U.S. sanctions against Russia for its alleged hacking of institutions related to the U.S. presidential election.

According Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's proposal, Russia should expel 31 employees of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and four employees of the General Consulate in St. Petersburg. The diplomats' names were not mentioned in the proposal.

Lavrov also proposed banning U.S. Embassy employees from using both a warehouse located on Dorozhnaya Ulitsa and a dacha in Serebryany Bor. 

On Thursday, the Obama administration ejected 35 Russian intelligence operatives from the United States and imposed sanctions on Russia’s two leading intelligence services. The U.S. also sanctioned four intelligence officers who belong to the military unit Washington says ordered the hacking attacks on the Democratic National Committee and other political institutions.  

Earlier today, CNN reported that Russia would close the Anglo-American School of Moscow in response to the sanctions. However, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova later denied that this was true. 

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