Expelled Russian diplomats arrive home

Russian diplomats expelled from the U.S. arrived in Moscow on Sunday, with post-Cold War tensions peaking in the wake of a nerve agent attack on a former spy in Britain. In further signs of tension, Russia warned its nationals on Saturday to think twice before travelling to Britain, where it said they could be singled out for harassment by authorities.

By expelling 60 Russian diplomats, the U.S. joined a score of Britain’s allies in responding to the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury on March 4. Two planes arrived at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport on Sunday, bringing home a total of 171 people — the 60 diplomats and their families — from Washington and New York.

Russian television showed passengers disembarking from a government plane while several buses waited to pick them up. More than 150 Russian diplomats have now been ordered out of the U.S., EU members, NATO countries and other nations. Moscow responded by expelling 60 U.S. diplomats and closing U.S. Consulate in St. Petersburg on Saturday.