The Russia connectionU.S., EU states expel dozens of Russian diplomats over nerve agent poisoning

President Donald Trump has ordered the expulsion of sixty Russian “intelligence officers” in response to the poisoning of a former Russian double agent in England, while fourteen European Union members and Ukraine also announced expulsions.

The nearly simultaneous announcements on 26 March signaled a united front in the face of what Britain and other Western countries say was the use of a military-grade nerve toxin against Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, in the English city of Salisbury.

Trump “ordered the expulsion of dozens of Russian intelligence officers from the United States and the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle due to its proximity to one of our submarine bases and [plane maker] Boeing,” a White House spokesperson said.

“The United States takes this action in conjunction with our NATO allies and partners around the world in response to Russia’s use of a military-grade chemical weapon on the soil of the United Kingdom, the latest in its ongoing pattern of destabilizing activities around the world,” it said.

The U.S. order includes twelve Russian intelligence officers from Moscow’s UN mission in New York, senior administration officials told reporters on condition of anonymity.

Other countries expelling Russian diplomats included the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Poland.

European Council President Donald Tusk said that fourteen countries were expelling Russians and that further measures could not be ruled out.

Ukraine, which is not an EU member, said it would expel thirteen Russian diplomats.

Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury on 4 March. They remain in critical condition.

Analysts note that, taken together, the expulsions were an unusually wide-ranging expression of solidarity against Russia following the attack. The E.U. and the United States also coordinated economic sanctions against Russia after the Kremlin annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, but subsequent actions have been more piecemeal.

In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the attack was “the latest in [Russia’s] ongoing pattern of destabilizing activities around the world.”

“Today’s actions make the United States safer by reducing Russia’s ability to spy on Americans and to conduct covert operations that threaten America’s national security,” Sanders said. “With these steps, the United States and our allies and partners make clear to Russia that its actions have consequences.”

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement, “We take these actions to demonstrate our unbreakable solidarity with the United Kingdom, and to impose serious consequences on Russia for its continued violations of international norms.”

The Washington Post quotes an administration official who said: To the Russian government, we say, when you attack our friend you will face serious consequences,” said a senior Trump administration official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity.

“As we have continually stressed to Moscow, the door to dialogue is open,” the official added. But Russia must “cease its recklessly aggressive behavior.”

The actions taken today stands in contrast to Trump’s refusal, at least so far, to criticize Putin or Russia for Russian efforts to undermine U.S. democracy, and Russian policies which harm U.S. interests.

Angela Stent, a former national intelligence officer who focused on Russia in the George W. Bush administration, told the Post that the U.S. move contrasts markedly with Trump’s efforts to improve relations with Moscow.

“These expulsions and closure of the consulate reinforce the reality of a relationship that continues on a downward spiral,” Stent said. “The Kremlin will surely retaliate, leaving even fewer areas where the United States and Russia can work together. What a change from the president’s congratulatory call to Vladimir Putin last week.”

Michael Sulick, a former head of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service and a former Moscow station chief, told the Post that “They’ll certainly retaliate. The Russians live by strict reciprocity. It’s tit for tat all the time.”

The only time Russia did not retaliate, Sulick noted, was in December 2016, when Obama ordered the expulsion of thirty-five Russian diplomats as punishment for Russian meddling the election. Russia did not retaliate because Michael Flynn, in calls with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak – calls about which Flynn lied both the Vice President Michael Pence and the FBI – told the ambassador that if Russia refrained from retaliating, it would make it easier for the incoming Trump administration to lift the economic sanctions imposed on Russia because of its annexation of Crimea and its involvement in the war in Ukraine.

Sulick said that Putting would regard the expulsions of intelligence officers as a temporary setback. If it were up to him, Sulick told the Post, he’d be taking more aggressive actions, such as revealing “financial information that would embarrass Putin on the world stage,” or other actions that would “really cut into him” economically.

“The Russians only understand one thing — when the boot is on their neck, and you keep pressing down,” Sulick said.