U.S. wants Russia ‘weakened,’ sees critical phase in east
As Russia batters Ukraine and as NATO countries send troops to Eastern Europe, a separate conflict between Moscow and the West is playing out in the world of diplomacy.
As part of a strategy to punish Russia for its invasion and undermine its activities abroad, the United States and several European nations have expelled hundreds of Russian diplomats or embassy staffers in the weeks since the war started.
Some countries — such as the United States, Poland and Slovakia — have accused Russian embassy staffers of using diplomatic cover to engage in espionage. Others, including the Baltic states, have simply cited what they said were breaches of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Other nations, including Germany and Lithuania, have announced diplomat expulsions, prompted by scenes of Russian aggression in Bucha, a suburb northwest of Kyiv.
