Moscow to retaliate to expulsion of minister-counselor of its embassy to U.S. - Ambassador Antonov

MOSCOW. Feb 25 (Interfax) - Russian Ambassador to the United States has confirmed reports that the U.S. has ordered that Sergei Trepelkov, minister-counsellor of the Russian embassy in the U.S., leave the country.

"Indeed, we received a note from the Department of State yesterday on declaring our minister-counsellor persona non grata. The supposedly unprovoked expulsion from Russia of U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission Bartle Gorman was indicated to us as the reason," the Russian embassy quoted Antonov as saying on its Facebook account on Friday.

"We view the new expulsion as another unfriendly step aimed at reducing Russia's diplomatic presence in the U.S. Our response measures are predictable," he said.