Earlier in the day, a Russian Ilyushin Il-96-600 passenger airliner, which is part of the Rossiya special flight detachment that provides services to state officials, in particular, to the Russian Foreign Ministry, departed from the Washington Dulles International Airport.
The plane made a stopover in New York, where it took another 14 Russian families. It departed from the John F. Kennedy International Airport at 8:51 p.m. local time (00:51 GMT on Sunday). The airplane is expected to land at Moscow's Vnukovo International Airport.
On Monday, the US Administration expelled 60 Russian diplomats and closed the Russian Consulate General in Seattle after Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy who worked for UK intelligence, and his daughter Yulia were exposed to what UK experts claim was an A234 nerve agent.
The Russian Foreign Ministry, in response, announced an expulsion of 58 diplomats from the US Embassy in Moscow and two employees from the US Consulate General in Yekaterinburg, as well as the closure of the US Consulate General in St. Petersburg.
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