Russia further escalated its response on Friday, ordering Britain to reduce the number of its diplomats in Moscow to the level that Russia has in London. The ministry said Friday it saw a “sharp increase in provocative actions against Russian diplomats” following the U.S. decision earlier this week to order out 60 Russian diplomats. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced Thursday that Moscow would expel the same number of diplomats from each of the nations that ordered Russian diplomats out. The Foreign Ministry said it was summoning ambassadors from those nations Friday to announce retaliatory measures. Peskov said that “Russia remains open for developing good ties.”Moscow said it would expel the same number of diplomats from each country that ordered Russian diplomats out.

Source: National Post March 30, 2018 10:45 UTC