Russia expells 2 US Embassy Workers - Political Forum

J.Locke777 · 05-08-2008, 06:29 PM

Quote:

From the BBC
Russia 'expels US embassy staff'

Russia has ordered the expulsion of two military attaches from the American embassy in Moscow, US officials say.
The US state department said it would comply with the order although it objected to it.
Two Russians have been expelled from Washington in recent months, one in November and the second on 22 April.
The news comes as Russia conducts a transition of power with Vladimir Putin becoming prime minister and Dmitry Medvedev president.
'Separate incidents'
The expulsion order was given some days ago but was only revealed by the state department on Thursday.
An official there confirmed to Reuters news agency the pair had been asked to leave but declined to say what reasons had been given for the expulsion.
It is not known whether the pair have left Moscow yet.
"They have not been declared persona non grata but they have been asked to leave," the official said.
Another US official said Washington regarded the expulsions as "separate incidents" from those of the Russian envoys. The Russian foreign ministry said it had "no comment at the moment".
BBC NEWS | Europe | Russia 'expels US embassy staff'

This is an interesting move by the Russian government. I sincearly doubt this was prompted by revenge. Unfortunately, the artical is rather vague, so if anyone is able to find updated ones, please post them.

This is another move by the Russia that will further strain relations between our two countries. I speculate if they have some serious dirt on the US, or if now that Putin is able to pull strings behind the curtain of the Prime Minister, this is his way of "flipping us off"

Brother Oz · 05-08-2008, 08:22 PM

Well, two Russians have recently been expelled from Washington. Could just be returning the favour.
Most likely, both the expelled Russians and the expelled Americans were suspected spies. It does say "military attaches".

sergie_sun · 05-09-2008, 06:14 AM

Nothing special. It is just normal practice. You expell ours we expell yours.

AzTeK · 05-09-2008, 06:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sergie_sun

Nothing special. It is just normal practice. You expell ours we expell yours.

Yes, that remembers me of the good old times...you know, Kindergarden and so on

Ah, the memories

J.Locke777 · 05-09-2008, 05:57 PM

Maybe it is just something like that, but that line of reasoning, should it indeed be theirs, is just stupid. You don't deliberately strain diplomatic ties without a really good reason.
Whoever turns out to be responsible for this, they have made a very poor decision.

PayingAttention · 05-09-2008, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brother Oz

Well, two Russians have recently been expelled from Washington. Could just be returning the favour.
Most likely, both the expelled Russians and the expelled Americans were suspected spies. It does say "military attaches".

Quote:

Originally Posted by sergie_sun

Nothing special. It is just normal practice. You expell ours we expell yours.

Quite right, sergie_sun, this is absouletely standard worlwide tit-for-tat diplomatic practice, happens all the time and hardly bears reporting, certainly does not mean anyone getting all bent out of shape about.

J.Locke777 · 05-09-2008, 07:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PayingAttention

Quite right, sergie_sun, this is absouletely standard worlwide tit-for-tat diplomatic practice, happens all the time and hardly bears reporting, certainly does not mean anyone getting all bent out of shape about.

That doesn't mean it's not stupid though.It sounds like a bunch of things children would do to eachother on a schoolyard playground.

Smith,Winston · 05-12-2008, 10:20 PM

If they acted with any maturity or by coherent reasoning, the next logical step might be accountability, responsibility -or another of those icky things -and that just wouldn't do -slows up the works.

Intelligent people have a difficult time dealing with stupidity, which makes it strategically viable.

Tatiana_Kuznetsova · 05-15-2008, 11:09 AM

In general, such tit-for-tats are a common practice for a traditional diplomacy, agreed with that. But here are some new facts http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/wo...=1&oref=slogin ("The two American military attachés who were expelled from Russia early this month, days ahead of the Victory Day martial parade on Red Square, had made an uninvited visit to a military aviation factory in Siberia that Russia regards as strategic, several American officials said this week").