Russia accuses US of 'expulsion blackmail'

Twenty-six countries have expelled Russian envoys in the past two days. NATO is also expelling seven diplomats in response to the attack. Pic/AFP

Moscow yesterday charged Washington had put "colossal pressure" on allies to expel scores of Russian diplomats, and vowed to retaliate. "This is the result of colossal pressure, colossal blackmail which is the main instrument of Washington on the international arena," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"We'll respond, have no doubt! No one wants to put up with such loutish behaviour and we won't," he added. More than 100 alleged agents working under diplomatic cover were ordered out by 22 governments, dwarfing similar measures in even the most notorious Cold War spying disputes.

The expulsions were a response to the poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.

Expulsions of Russian diplomats were ordered by the US, Canada and Australia as well as a number of European Union countries, Albania and Ukraine. The row has plunged Russia's relations with the West to new lows amid ongoing tensions over Ukraine and Syria. Speaking on the sidelines of a conference on Afghanistan in Uzbekistan, Lavrov said the expulsions justified Russia's view that there are "few independent countries" remaining in Europe.