A Russian plane landed at Washington’s international airport on Saturday to pick up about a dozen diplomats from Moscow’s UN mission who are accused of espionage by Washington.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States closed its airspace to all Russian aircraft.
The Ilyushin Il-96 aircraft, on the other hand, was permitted to land at Dulles International Airport. FlightAware, a website that tracks all air traffic, confirmed the landing.
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“The US government approved a flight chartered by the Russian government to facilitate the departure of Russian UN Mission personnel expelled for abusing their residence privileges,” a State Department spokesman told reporters.
“This special exception was made… to ensure Russian mission personnel and their families left by the date we had instructed,” the spokesman added, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The US had called on Monday for the expulsion of 12 Russian UN mission members by March 7.
A day later, the US ordered the expulsion of a Russian national working for the UN secretariat, citing alleged espionage once more.
“This is a hostile move against our country,” Russian ambassador to the US Anatoli Antonov said in a Facebook message, adding that Moscow “completely rejected” the US claims.
According to a Russian diplomatic source, the Russian mission employs approximately 100 people.
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