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Former Diplomats: U.S. Embassy Staff in Moscow Will Rise to the Challenge

Posted: July 31st, 2017

In retaliation for the wave of new sanctions the United States Congress passed, Moscow has ordered the U.S. cut 755 diplomatic staff by September. The demand will likely end up hitting local Russian staff particularly hard, given they vastly outnumber the American embassy and consulate personnel in Russia. President Donald Trump has not yet signed the sanctions bill, although he is expected to do so, or responded to Moscow’s retaliatory actions.

The Cipher Brief’s Mackenzie Weinger spoke with Steven Pifer of the Brookings Institution, a retired Foreign Service officer who spent more than 25 years with the State Department, including as Ambassador to Ukraine, and Alexander “Sandy” Vershbow of the Atlantic Council, a former Ambassador to Russia from 2001-2005, about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s call to significantly cut the number of U.S. embassy personnel.

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