U.S. to expel 50 Russian diplomats; Russia vows tit-for-tat

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, MARCH 22. The U.S. and Russia may just be getting ready for a major diplomatic tussle following reports that the Bush Administration has already asked or is on the verge of asking some 50 Russian diplomats to leave the country.

On Wednesday, the U.S. had declared six Russian officials as persona non grata and asked them to leave the country.

This is said to be in retaliation to the recent arrest of the top FBI counter-intelligence agent, Mr. Robert Hanssen, who has been accused of working for the Russians in exchange for $1.4 millions in cash and diamonds over 15 years. Neither the State Department nor the CIA would comment on the media reports on the expulsions but unnamed senior officials of the administration say the government has been asking Moscow to cut down its intelligence staff for quite some time and that the requests have been ignored.

The latest move is being viewed against the backdrop of the arrest of Mr. Hanssen.

Mr. Hanssen not only compromised highly classified secrets but is also believed to have led the Russians on to a tunnel dug under the Russian embassy complex here for eavesdropping.

The Russians, in the aftermath of the reports surfacing in the media on the tunnel, protested to the U.S. which instantly brushed off the charges.

One of the unofficial replies was that the American Embassy in Moscow was recently rebuilt after the Russians had extensively bugged it.

The last time the U.S. and Russia - or the then Soviet Union - were at loggerheads over expulsions was in 1986 when the President, Mr. Ronald Reagan, ordered some 80 Soviet diplomats out of the country in what was known as Operation Famish.

The Cold War may have ended, but both the U.S. and Russia are believed to continue their extensive spying operations and occasionally resort to expulsions.

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Section  : International
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