The deputy head of mission at the US Embassy in Moscow, Bart Gorman, has been expelled from Russia in retaliation, according to the Foreign Ministry. Gorman was asked to leave in reaction to the "unjustified" expulsion of the Russian Embassy's minister-counsellor in Washington, according to a statement issued by Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova on Thursday, after media reports earlier in the day.

According to media reports, the US Department of State "defiantly" ignored Moscow's request to extend the Russian diplomat's stay at least until the arrival of his successor. The forced depaarture of the minister-counsellor without a successor exacerbated the Russian diplomatic mission's already acute manpower shortfall in the midst of an American-led "visa war," according to Zakharova.

She recalled that the US had requested the withdrawal of 55 Russian diplomats, as well as administrative and technical staff, in two stages, by January 30 and June 30 of this year. "The normalisation of bilateral ties is a one-way track in the eyes of the US administration, where only American interests are protected and everything else is ignored," Zakharova said.

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