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Russia Expels 10 US Diplomats and Intercepts Spy Plane

  • US RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft, April 16, 2021.

    US RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft, April 16, 2021. | Photo: Twitter/ @ApiWenuwen

Published 16 April 2021
Opinion

The expulsion of the diplomats is a tit-for-tat response to the sanctions the United States imposed on Russia on Thursday.

Russia's Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday announced that his country is expelling ten U.S. diplomats in response to the sanctions that President Joe Biden imposed on this European nation on Thursday.

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US Imposes New Sweeping Unilateral Coercive Measures on Russia

On Thursday, the United States imposed unilateral restrictive measures on Russia claiming that the Kremlin had encouraged actions contrary to the U.S. interests.

Besides deporting ten employees of the Russian embassy in Washington D.C., the new sanctions package targeted companies and individuals accused by the White House of interfering in the November presidential election.

The Biden administration's sanctions even contemplate mechanisms to hinder indefinitely the issuance of sovereign bonds that could be carried out by Russian public financial institutions and Central Bank.

To this end, the U.S. government sets sanctions against domestic companies that carry out operations related to these bonds.

On Friday, Russia’s Defense Ministry informed that its country’s radars detected an air target approaching the state border over the Pacific Ocean and a MiG-31 took off from an airfield in Kamchatka in response.

The crew of the Russian jet identified the air target as an RC-135 strategic reconnaissance aircraft of the U.S. Air Force and then escorted it over the Pacific Ocean.

After the U.S. aircraft flew away from the Russian border, the MiG-31 safely returned to the airfield. During its flight, the Russian fighter strictly complied with international rules for the use of airspace, the ministry added.

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