The US and more than a dozen European nations kicked out Russian diplomats on Monday and the Trump administration ordered Russia's consulate in Seattle to close, prompting Russia to pledge retaliation over the row on the poisoning of an ex-spy in Britain.
Warning of an "unacceptably high" number of Russian spies in the US, the Trump administration said 60 diplomats would be expelled — all Russian intelligence agents working under diplomatic cover, the US said.
The group includes a dozen posted to Russia's mission to the United Nations who the officials said were engaged in "aggressive collection" of intelligence on American soil.
Russia's Consulate General in Seattle must close by April 2.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the actions would make the US safer by "reducing Russia's ability to spy on Americans and to conduct covert operations" that threaten US national security.
The move was one of the most significant actions President Donald Trump's administration has taken to date to push back on Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The American penalties were echoed by announcements in European capitals across the continent, including those in Russia's backyard.
More than fourteen European Union nations were expelling Russian diplomats, EU chief Donald Tusk said. An EU official put the total from those countries at more than 30 Russians.
Germany, Poland and France each planned to boot four, the Czech Republic three and Italy two.
Ukraine, a non-EU country with its own conflicts with Moscow, was expelling 13 Russians, President Petro Poroshenko said. All three Baltic states said they would kick diplomats out. Canada, too, said it was taking action.
But the Russian foreign ministry on Monday vowed to retaliate against the expulsions.
"We express a decisive protest over the decision taken by a number of EU and NATO countries to expel Russian diplomats," the ministry said in a statement, calling the moves a "provocative gesture."
Moscow vowed that this "unfriendly step by this group of countries will not pass without trace and we will respond to it."
Russia said the move went against the interests of identifying those guilty for the attack in the English city of Salisbury on ex-double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, who are both unconscious in hospital after being poisoned by a nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union.
