Russia expels U.S. diplomats

RUSSIA,UKRAINE, BELGIUM, UK: Almost a month after the United States expelled as many as 12 Russian representatives to the United Nations, Russia, in a retaliatory move on Wednesday, expelled a number of American diplomats from the US embassy in Moscow. “On March 23, Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs gave the embassy a list of diplomats declared ‘persona non grata’ from Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs on March 23,” a State Department spokesperson said, confirming the development.

The spokesperson also described the move as Moscow’s ‘latest unhelpful and unproductive step’ in the bilateral ties between the two countries.

There is no information on the number of diplomats who were asked to leave.

Meanwhile, NATO estimated on Wednesday that 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in four weeks of war in Ukraine, where fierce fighting by the country’s fast-moving defenders has denied Moscow the lightning victory it sought.

By way of comparison, Russia lost about 15,000 troops over 10 years in Afghanistan. A senior NATO military official said the alliance’s estimate was based on information from Ukrainian authorities, what Russia has released — intentionally or not — and intelligence gathered from open sources. The official spoke on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by NATO.

Meanwhile, Britain will provide Ukraine with about 6,000 new defensive missiles and almost £30 million ($40 million) to support the BBC’s coverage in the region and pay Ukrainian soldiers and pilots.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce the new package of support on Thursday at the NATO and G7 leaders’ meetings while also signalling a willingness to bolster Ukraine’s defence capabilities further, his office said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin’s special representative Anatoly Chubais has resigned from his position amid war with Ukraine in a big blow to Kremlin, reported Reuters.

Known as the architect of Russia’s post-Soviet economic reforms, Chubais once served as former President Boris Yeltsin’s Chief of Staff. He was appointed to the post of Kremlin special envoy in 2020, days after he resigned as the head of state technology firm RUSNANO.

Meanwhile, a Russian journalist for the investigative news outlet The Insider was killed when Russian troops shelled a residential neighbourhood in the Ukrainian capital, the outlet said Wednesday, the latest reporter to die in war.

Oksana Baulina, who previously also worked for Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s anti-corruption group, “died under fire in Kyiv” while “filming the destruction” caused by Russian shelling, The Insider said on its website.

– THE HINDUSTAN TIMES, NDTV