Moscow will close the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg in retaliation to America's closing of a Russian consulate

Mar.29.2018 / 11:00 AM ET / Updated 10:59 AM ET / Source: Associated Press

Police stand guard outside the building of the consulate-general of the U.S. in St. Petersburg, Russia, on March 29.Anton Vaganov / Reuters

Russia's foreign minister says Moscow will expel the same number of diplomats from the nations that have expelled Russian diplomats over the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy in Britain.

Sergey Lavrov said U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Thursday, where he was given notice that Russia is responding quid pro quo to the U.S. decision to order 60 Russian diplomats out.

Russia expels U.S. diplomats and closes a consulate

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Lavrov said Moscow will also retaliate to the U.S. decision to shut the Russian consulate in Seattle by closing the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg.

Lavrov said the same approach will be applied to other nations that expelled Russian diplomats this week.

Two dozen countries, including the U.S., many EU nations and NATO, have ordered more than 150 Russian diplomats out this week in a show of solidarity with Britain.

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