MOSCOW — Moscow is threatening to order an additional 155 American diplomatic personnel removed from missions in Russia in a further escalation of the cycle of retaliation between the two world powers.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that Russia was seriously considering the additional cuts, although it had not yet made a formal petition. A senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the Trump administration was aware of the possibility.
Earlier this year, Moscow ordered the U.S. to slash its staff in Russia by nearly two-thirds by Sept. 1. In response, the U.S. ordered Russia to shutter its consulate in San Francisco and two trade offices, in Washington, D.C., and New York.
Washington and Moscow are basing their tit-for-tat on differing interpretations of “parity,” the principle that each government have an identical numerical presence in the other’s country. That was the justification Moscow used to cut the U.S. staff to 455, the same number Russia had here. The U.S. then said closing the San Francisco consulate meant each country would have three consulates.
Now, Russia said it was being too generous because the number 455 included staff at its mission at the United Nations: 155 people. That number of American employees in Russia may now need to go, Lavrov suggested.
“If they have taken parity as a criterion … we will bring these conditions into full compliance with what is called parity,” Lavrov said at a news conference Monday in Amman, Jordan.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the administration continued to hold out hope that relations would improve.
“We don’t want to continue this kind of diplomatic tit-for-tat,” she said. “There are far too many areas where we can, we hope we can, cooperate with Russia.” But asked about further cuts in staff, she said: “I’m not going to get into forecasting any potential Russian reaction.”
The cuts in staffing have crippled U.S. diplomatic functions in Russia, officials say. Visa processing, after a brief suspension, has been renewed but at a much slower pace and only in Moscow, not in the consulates in other cities.
The consulates canceled thousands of interview appointments for non-immigrant visa applicants on Sept. 1, and many Russians seeking visas to the U.S. are applying in neighboring countries, such as Ukraine.
In addition, the United States will be forced to turn to contractors for basic security services, the senior State Department official said. The official described the moves as taking a meat cleaver to the diplomatic mission in Russia.
Both governments acknowledge their relations are severely deteriorated — although the two continue to work on some issues, such as the fight against terrorism, cooperation in Syria and curbing the nuclear threat posed by North Korea.
