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Trump Expels 60 Russian Diplomats, EU Follows

26 March 2018

By Lauren E. White

US President Donald Trump has today announced the expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats in response to the Salisbury nerve agent attack in the UK, while members of the European Union and Canada have followed his lead.

The chemical weapons attack, which happened on 4th March, hospitalised 21 people, including Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia who were the targets of the attack. It prompted a spike in tensions between the UK and Russia just days before the Russian election in which Putin was re-elected as President, as was expected following his ban on credible political opponents.

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Emergency workers collecting evidence in Salisbury

It was announced by Prime Minister Theresa May that the UK would expel 23 Russian diplomats from the embassy in London in response to what she has called a “state-sponsored” assassination attempt which used a Novichok chemical agent which is thought to have been developed by the Soviet Union in the 1980s.

As well as Trump, much of the rest of the European Union has expelled Russian diplomats in a show of unity against Russia. Thirteen diplomats in Ukraine have been expelled as well as four from France, Germany and Poland, four from Canada as well as two from Italy and Spain and more from other countries.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin

Russia’s response to the mass expulsion has been somewhat reserved, considering the Russian Embassy in London tweeted a photo of Poirot mocking the UK’s intelligence services. The Russian foreign ministry said it was an “unfriendly act” and it would begin a “determined protest” to the expulsions, suggesting there will be a retaliation against Western diplomats in the days to come.

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