The United States has expelled Russia’s No. 2 diplomat in Washington

A senior US State Department official said on Thursday that the United States had expelled a second-ranked Russian diplomat in Washington in retaliation for the expulsion of the second-ranked US diplomat in Moscow earlier this month, IRNA reported, quoting the Associated Press.

The Associated Press wrote that the dismissal had nothing to do with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and was part of a long-running dispute between Washington and Moscow over embassy staff. However, this comes at a time when tensions between the two countries have peaked since the end of the Cold War over Ukraine.

The State Department told the Russian embassy on Wednesday that it was expelling Sergei Terpelkov, who is currently Russia’s second-in-command diplomat under Anatoly Antonov.

Russia expelled US Deputy Chief of Mission Bart Gorman from Moscow in mid-February.

Despite the sharp decline in relations over the current situation in Ukraine, the official said the United States still believes that maintaining diplomatic contacts is important “to facilitate communication between governments.” However, the official added that he would not allow actions such as Gorman’s dismissal to go “unanswered”.