The United States has asked 12 Russian United Nations diplomats to immediately leave the country for engaging in “in espionage activities,” UN Deputy Ambassador Richard Mills said during a UN Security Council meeting Monday afternoon.
According to CNN, the official said such activities are “not in accordance with their responsibilities and obligations as diplomats.”
The US Mission to the UN also said in a statement that the 12 Russian diplomats were “intelligence operatives…who have abused their privileges of residency in the U.S. by engaging in espionage activities that are adverse to our national security.”
“We are taking this action in accordance with the headquarters agreement. Today’s action has been in the works for several months,” US Mission spokesperson Olivia Dalton said, CNN reported.
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia responded by saying: “I’ve just received information that the US authorities have undertaken another hostile action against the Russian Mission to the United Nations grossly violating their commitments on the host country agreement that they undertook.”
“They just visited the Russian Mission and gave us a note prescribing us to do what they demand,” Nebenzia told reporters.
