Senior Diplomat Expelled From Washington, Russia Sends Home US Deputy Ambassador

US Embassy in Moscow, Russia. (Wikimedia Commons/Gennady Grachev)

JAKARTA - The United States and Russia have expelled high-ranking diplomatic officials from their respective embassies, amid the Ukraine border crisis that has escalated in recent times.

Russia has expelled Bart Gorman, the number two US official in Moscow, the State Department said on Thursday with Washington warning it would respond to the move.

Meanwhile, Russia's Foreign Ministry said Gorman was forced to leave Moscow in response to what it called the "unreasonable expulsion" of a senior Russian official by Washington, accusing the United States of waging a "visa war."

The expulsions come amid a months-long stalemate over the buildup of more than 150.000 Russian troops near its border with Ukraine.

Gorman, who once served as deputy head of the US mission, left Russia last week, a senior State Department official said. It was not clear why the expulsions were not announced until Thursday.

"Russia's actions against our DCM (deputy chief of mission) are unwarranted and we consider this an escalatory step and are considering our response," a US State Department spokesman said, citing Reuters February 18.

Gorman, the second most senior US official at the Embassy in Moscow, previously served as deputy assistant secretary and assistant State Department director for threat investigation and analysis, overseeing threat monitoring against US diplomatic personnel, according to a biography on the embassy website.

He also served as a regional security officer of the US Diplomatic Security Service, the law enforcement and security department, in countries including Iraq, Jordan, and China, the biography said.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. (Twitter/@RussianEmbassy)

Separately, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said Deputy US Ambassador Bart Gorman was asked to leave Russia in retaliation for Moscow's expulsion of diplomats from Washington.

"We want to be clear about the departure of the deputy head of the US diplomatic mission in Moscow, Bart Gorman, which some media have tried to present as a deliberate escalation on the part of Russia," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in official comments posted on the Foreign Ministry website as quoted by TASS.

"It is true that US diplomats were ordered to leave Russia, but it was done expressly in retaliation for the baseless expulsion of a minister-advisor to our embassy in Washington, contrary to his senior diplomatic rank. In addition, the US State Department emphatically ignored our requests. to extend her stay at least until her successor arrives," Zakharova said.

"As a result, he had to leave without being replaced, which only exacerbated the already critical personnel shortage at the Russian embassy, which arose as a result of the 'visa war' waged by America," she said.

The visa war is one of the points of 'tension' between Moscow and Washington in recent times over the diplomatic presence in the respective capitals.

A US State Department spokesman said Gorman had a valid visa and had been in Russia for less than three years. Washington said Russian diplomats who had been living for more than three years should leave, the spokesman said.

"In response, Russia required US diplomats to leave well before the end of the three years, gave them two weeks to leave the country, and called it the same. This is not the same," the spokesman said, adding Russia's retaliatory move had put staff levels at the embassy The size of the US in Moscow is far below Russia's diplomatic presence in Washington.

For information, the Foreign Ministry did not name the expelled Russian diplomat or say when he was forced to leave Washington.