Trump administration expels 60 Russian officers, shuts Seattle consulate in response to attack on former spy in Britain
https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...db33a5eef83_story.html?utm_term=.a61750653586
Michael Sulick, a former head of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service and a former Moscow station chief, agreed: “They’ll certainly retaliate. The Russians live by strict reciprocity. It’s tit for tat all the time.”
The only time they did not do so, Sulick noted, was after the Obama administration’s move to expel 35 Russians. In that case, however, according to court records, it appears their restraint was prompted by calls between Trump’s then-incoming national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Flynn, who has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with Kislyak, has admitted that in December 2016, he urged Kislyak not to escalate an ongoing feud over sanctions, according to court records. The Washington Post reported Flynn had assured Kislyak the issue would be revisited once Trump took office.
Flynn is now cooperating with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, as well as possible obstruction of justice by Trump.