Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that over 755 US diplomats must leave the country as a result of Washington’s own policies.

“The American side has made a move which, it is important to note, hasn’t been provoked by anything, to worsen Russian-US relations. [It includes] unlawful restrictions, attempts to influence other states of the world, including our allies, who are interested in developing and keeping relations with Russia,” said Putin during an interview with the Rossiya 1 TV channel on Sunday.

Earlier in the week, after the US Congress approved new sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea, the Russian foreign ministry announced that Moscow had informed Washington that its diplomatic staff in Russia must be reduced to 455.

PressTV-Russia calls on US to halt vicious circle

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov says Moscow and Washington must “start anew or everything will be in tatters.”

“We’ve been waiting for quite a long time that maybe something would change for the better, we had hopes that the situation would change. But it looks like, it’s not going to change in the near future… I decided that it is time for us to show that we will not leave anything unanswered,” he added. “From the perspective of a working diplomatic mission, [the measure] is fairly sensitive,” Putin said.

Culled from Presstv