New York, March 7 (Agency) A special plane carrying a total of about 50 people, mostly Russian diplomats and their family members, has departed the John F. Kennedy International Airport, media reports said. Russian diplomats, who have been expelled from the UN by the US left New York with their families on Sunday and were headed to Moscow, the Russian mission to the UN told Sputnik. Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said that the US had declared 12 diplomats from Russia’s permanent mission to the UN personae non grata and they must leave the country by March 7.
According to Ambassador Richard Mills, the diplomats were removed due to actions that were “not in accordance with their responsibilities and obligations as diplomats”, the CNN said. Earlier, a Sputnik correspondent reported that the expelled Russian diplomats and their family members had left the living quarters of Russia’s UN mission onboard two buses and were headed for JFK. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday a special flight will repatriate the diplomats.