Russia's demand that U.S. cut 755 members of diplomatic missions concerns diplomats, technical staff, including Russians - Peskov
MOSCOW. July 31 (Interfax) - The United States will have to decide for itself who of the employees of its diplomatic missions in Russia it will have to cut, and these might include Russian citizens employed there, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"This is for the U.S. to choose. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin said these are both diplomats and technical personnel. That is, the matter concerns not just diplomats, because there are not that many [U.S.] diplomats [in Russia]. The matter concerns diplomats, persons with non-diplomatic status, and those employed locally, that is, Russian citizens working there," Peskov told journalists on Monday.
He also explained why Russia imposed restrictions on the U.S. even before President Donald Trump signed the bill on new sanctions against Russia, North Korea and Iran passed by Congress.
"The truth is that, after [the House] and the Senate passed this bill, you know that this bill will become law purely automatically in the future, even if the U.S. president doesn't sign it," Peskov said.
Moreover, the White House has already made it understood that even if Trump has some proposals on amending the bill, then will only make it even tougher, he said.
"Therefore, there was actually nothing more to wait for, everything was quite obvious," he said.
