Why are Russian diplomats leaving the United States?
A lone Russian plane landed in Washington on Saturday despite a ban on Russian aircraft landing in the US, but it was not there for usual passengers.
With the war in Ukraine still raging, tensions have been high between Russia and plenty of other nations around the world. Old enemies, Russia and the United States are at each others throats once again.
The latest spat concerns the position of Russian diplomats in the US. Namely, another expulsion. The US claimed that the diplomats were being expelled from the country for national security concerns. Last Monday it was demanded that 12 members of the Russian diplomatic service be expelled, and the only flight allowed from Russia since the ban took them home.
"The US government approved a flight chartered by the Russian government to facilitate the departure of Russian UN Mission personnel who were expelled for abuse of their privileges of residence," a State Department spokesperson told AFP.
Russia, for their part, denies this claim and says it will respond in kind. Nothing has yet been announced for what retaliation they may take. Using data from FlightTracker, CNN suggests that the plane was then used to take diplomats to Belarus to meet Ukrainian counterparts in face-to-face negotiations.
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What diplomatic discussions are happening?
The United Nations had a vote last week to criticise the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in which 141 of the 193 member states voted to condemn. 35 abstained and five voted against the motion: Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Syria and of course Russia. Both China and India abstained, underlying some support for Russia without open admittance of fault.
Ukraine Vote in the UN General Assembly! The number and size (area and population) don't match.
— Ashok Swain (@ashoswai) March 2, 2022
(Image - The Diplomat) pic.twitter.com/pfG9dKRWEQ
Between Russia and Ukraine there are fresh negotiations happening on Monday with the aim of securing humanitarian corridors for civilians to flee the fighting. Russia has been accused of deliberately attacking previous routes, as well as proposing routes that would take civilians into Russia, a move Ukraine's deputy prime minister called "completely immoral."
Sorry, but we can't stay silent on this one, it's just far too cynical. What 🇷🇺 is doing in 🇺🇦 is slaughtering innocent children, women and men for its own gain. It's definitely not "fighting Nazism". Shame on anyone who's falling for this. (Sadly, we're kinda experts on Nazism.)
— Germany in SA (@GermanEmbassySA) March 5, 2022
The US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan is still in Moscow, and as of yet there is no public discussion of his expelling or retreat from Russia.