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US, Russia in tit-for-tat 'cold war' expulsions Special report: George Bush's America Special report: Russia Martin Kettle in Washington and Amelia Gentleman in Moscow Friday March 23, 2001 The Guardian The biggest barrage of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions between Washington and Moscow since the end of the cold war was under way last night, sending US-Russian relations to a new low and providing the Bush administration with its first big test on the international stage. Fewer than 24 hours after the US told 50 alleged Russian spies to pack their bags in the wake of the arrest of the suspected FBI spy Robert Hanssen, the Russian foreign ministry was reported to be preparing to expel an unspecified number of alleged US agents from Moscow. Russia's foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, telephoned the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, and told him that Russia did not want to get rid of the American diplomats but that "adequate measures" had to be taken after Wednesday's action by the US. None of Washington's expulsions was justified, Mr Ivanov told Mr Powell. The exact number of Americans being expelled was not immediately clear, but Reuters reported Mr Ivanov as confirming that 50 would be involved. The ministry of foreign affairs, in a statement to the Interfax news agency last night, denied that Mr Ivanov had said 50 Americans were involved. "Russia will respond adequately. You will not have to wait long," the ministry quoted Mr Ivanov as saying. President Bush and his top advisers battled to present their action as only a temporary chill in relations with Russia brought on by the Hanssen case. Mr Bush said he expected to have "a good working relationship" with Moscow. But Mr Ivanov called the expulsions a "political act" and an adviser to President Vladimir Putin condemned them as "a relapse into the cold war era". "Presented with the facts, I made the decision. It was the right thing to do," Mr Bush told reporters after delivering a speech to newspaper editors. Mr Ivanov told CNN and NBC in an interview in Moscow: "What happened today is a return to the cold war. It is an attempt by those who do not want a constructive dialogue between our countries to push us backwards, to push us back into confrontation." Washington's decision to get rid of so many Russian diplomats from the US followed the arrest of Mr Hanssen last month on charges of spying for Russia for 15 years. Mr Hanssen was arrested in Virginia moments after he dropped off a package, prosecutors say. He is next due in court on May 21. Four of those expelled from the US are said to have been directly involved with Mr Hanssen, as were two others who had already left Washington before the decisions were announced. But the bulk of those who have been asked to leave were told to go because of "long-standing concerns about the level of their intelligence presence in the United States", a state department spokesman said. Russian anger at the news had been predicted in Washington, but Moscow seemed to be opting for a tone of injured dignity rather than outrage. High-ranking anonymous Kremlin sources said the move to expel such a large number of diplomats would have "inevitable consequences" for Russian-US relations. Related articles Useful links Printable version | Send it to a friend | Read it later | See saved stories
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