Deputy Head of the US Embassy in Moscow Bart Gorman MOSCOW, Feb 17Moscow ordered Deputy US Ambassador Bart Gorman to leave Russia in response to the expulsion of the Russian embassy's Minister-Counselor from the United States, explained Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova. Washington, despite his status as an executive,» the statement said. As Zakharova pointed out, the State Department defiantly ignored Moscow's request to extend the Russian diplomat's stay at least until the «replacement» arrived. «As a result, he was forced to leave without a replacement, which aggravated without Moreover, there is a critical shortage of personnel in the Russian diplomatic mission, which was formed as a result of the visa war unleashed by the Americans,» she stressed. -2022, Zakharova recalled that it was America The Russian side initiated another expulsion exchange in September 2021, demanding the departure of 55 Russian diplomats and administrative and technical staff in two stages — until January 30 and June 30 of the current year.
"All attempts on our part to settle the issue by freezing the deportations on a reciprocal basis were rejected. Moreover, under this essentially sanction measure, the State Department also brought the Russian envoy adviser, although they were well aware that a mirror response would follow in relation to Bart Gorman" the persecution of Russian diplomats continues,” and in this situation, Moscow reserves the right to retaliate. Russia was completely deprived of its consular presence on the West Coast of America, where tens of thousands of Russians live. In addition, there are regular mass expulsions of Russian diplomats. Washington has also sharply tightened the procedure for issuing visas. In June, after the summit of Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden in Geneva, Moscow and Washington began contacts on the issue of normalizing the work of embassies, but, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, this process is «marking time» because of US attempts to put pressure on Russia.
The State Department called the expulsion of US Ambassador Gorman a step towards escalation