Russian diplomatic expulsion from the United States will not compromise the Kremlin's intelligence network

Although the size is unprecedented, the recent expulsions of over 150 diplomats by some 30 countries and organizations around the world have hardly dented Russia's enormous diplomatic footprint. Coordinated expulsions were announced last week in response to Britain's allegations that the Kremlin attempted to kill a former Russian spy living in England. Sergei Skripal, 66, who spied for Britain in the early 2000s, and has lived in England since 2010, is fighting for his life after being poisoned with what London claims is a military-grade nerve agent. Almost all European countries, as well as Canada, Australia and the United States, have expelled Russian diplomats in response to the attack on Skripal. Meanwhile, it was learned yesterday that Skripal's daughter is getting better.

Most of the expulsions came from the United States, where the White House announced that 60 Russian diplomats had been ordered to leave by the end of the week. Most of these diplomats are employed at the Russian embassy in Washington and the consulate in New York. At least twelve others are on duty at Russia's permanent mission to the United Nations in New York. On Thursday, several US media outlets said that all 60 Russians who said they were leaving the United States were undeclared intelligence officers serving under diplomatic cover. Fox News quoted an unnamed "senior administration official" in the United States as saying that "these are not diplomats but intelligence agents operating under diplomatic cover. The official added that the Russians were expelled because "they were engaging in activities that were not commensurate with their diplomatic roles and functions." This description is often used by governments to allude to diplomats who are actually engaging in espionage or other intelligence-related activities.

But in a piece of analysis written for the BBC, Alex Oliver, director of research at the Lowy Institute in Australia, points out that the 150 diplomats expelled in recent days are only "a small part" of the massive Russian diplomatic presence around the world. With 242 diplomatic offices around the world, Russia has the fourth largest diplomatic footprint in the world, behind the United States, China and France. Several thousand Russian diplomats are active at any one time in 143 Russian embassies, 87 consulates and about a dozen other diplomatic missions in almost every country in the world. Of these, about 170 are in the United States. The 60 expulsions announced last week by the US government will still leave Russia with over 100 American-accredited diplomats, many of them allegedly intelligence officers. Earlier today, Moscow announced it would expel 60 American diplomats, as well as nearly 100 other diplomats for other countries. The White House said it may choose to respond with further expulsions of Russian diplomatic personnel.

Russian diplomatic expulsion from the United States will not compromise the Kremlin's intelligence network