Russia may demand U.S. cut diplomatic staff in Russia to 300

Moscow does not rule out ordering the United States to cut its diplomatic staff in Russia to 300 people or below, the head of the Russia’s Foreign Ministry’s North America Department Georgy Borisenko said.

The figure of 455 was meant to mirror the total number of Russian diplomats working in the United States, but also included Russian nationals working at the United Nations in New York, Borisenko told RIA Novosti.

"The fact that in the summer we took into account the people working for Russia’s mission at the UN, this was good will,” Borisenko said.

"If they haven’t appreciated this, we have the full right to reduce ... the number of U.S. diplomats,” he noted, saying Moscow could stop taking Russian U.N. staff into account when calculating what parity between the two countries meant.

In this case, according to Borisenko, the number of American personnel in Russia should decline to a level of 300 or below.”

In July, Moscow ordered the United States to cut the number of its diplomatic and technical staff working in Russia by around 60 percent, to 455, part of a diplomatic row.