Russia expels 23 British diplomats over spy poisoning controversy

Specialist officers in protective suits secure the police forensic tent that had been blown over by the wind and is covering the bench where Sergei Skripal was found critically with his daug — (Image credit: Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Moscow on Saturday announced 23 British diplomats have one week to leave Russia, a retaliation for the United Kingdom's decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats and cut off high-level communications with Russia earlier this week.

The first expulsion came in response to the poisoning of a former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter, Yulia, who now live in England. Both remain in critical condition. The U.S., U.K., France, and Germany have blamed the nerve gas attack on Moscow, which denies the accusation.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.