Russia ambassador to US claims Washington pressuring him to leave: official news agency

Russia's ambassador to the United States said on Wednesday that US officials had made it clear he would have to leave his post by April unless Moscow provided visas to security guards at the American embassy in Russia, Moscow's official RIA news agency reported.

RIA cited the ambassador, Anatoly Antonov, as also complaining that a group of Russian diplomats had been forced to leave the United States in recent days.

Antonov was quoted as saying that more than 120 diplomats and Russian staff, or around 300 people when family members were added in, had been forced to leave the United States in the last four years.

(Reuters)