“Over 1,000 employees — diplomats and technical workers — worked and continue to work today in Russia; 755 will have to stop this activity,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin while talking to state-run Rossiya 1 television on July 30, 2017.[1]
The move by the Russian President came after the US Congress reached an agreement on expanded sanctions against Russia on July 29, 2017.[2] The newly adopted sanctions package also encompass two other countries whom the US administration has long been wanting to punish – Iran and North Korea. The sanctions against Russia are levelled against its alleged interference in the 2016 US Presidential elections and its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014.[3]
