WASHINGTON: A Russian plane landed at Washington’s international airport Saturday to pick up about a dozen diplomats from Moscow’s UN mission who are accused by Washington of espionage, authorities said.
The United States closed its airspace to all Russian aircraft after Moscow invaded Ukraine.
The Ilyushin Il-96 aircraft was allowed, however, to land at Dulles International Airport. The landing was confirmed by the FlightAware website, which tracks all air movement.
“The US government approved a flight chartered by the Russian government to facilitate the departure of Russian UN Mission personnel who were expelled for abuse of their privileges of residence,” a State Department spokesman told AFP.
“This special exception was done... to ensure Russian mission personnel and their families departed by the date we had instructed,” the spokesman added, speaking on background.
The United States had called on Monday for the expulsion of 12 members of Russia’s UN mission by March 7.
A day later, again citing alleged espionage, the US ordered the expulsion of a Russian national working for the UN secretariat.
“This is a hostile move against our country,” Russian ambassador to the United States Anatoli Antonov said in a Facebook message, adding that Moscow “totally rejected” the US claims.
The Russian mission employs about 100 people, according to a Russian diplomatic source.
Russian plane lands in US to remove diplomats expelled for alleged espionage
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Russian plane lands in US to remove diplomats expelled for alleged espionage
- The Ilyushin Il-96 aircraft was allowed, however, to land at Dulles International Airport
- The United States had called on Monday for the expulsion of 12 members of Russia's UN mission by March 7
Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of arming rebels in escalating war of words
- The charge by Ethiopia’s federal police escalates a feud between Ethiopia and Eritrea
- The two countries fought a three-year border war that broke out in 1998
ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopian police said they had seized thousands of rounds of ammunition sent by Eritrea to rebels in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, an allegation Eritrea dismissed as a falsehood intended to justify starting a war.
The charge by Ethiopia’s federal police escalates a feud between Ethiopia and Eritrea, longstanding foes who reached a peace deal in 2018 that has since given way to renewed threats and acrimony.
The police said in a statement late on Wednesday they had seized 56,000 rounds of ammunition and arrested two suspects this week in the Amhara region, where Fano rebels have waged an insurgency since 2023.
“The preliminary investigation conducted on the two suspects who were caught red-handed has confirmed that the ammunition was sent by the Shabiya government,” the statement said, using a term for Eritrea’s ruling party.
Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel told Reuters that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Prosperity Party (PP) was looking for a pretext to attack.
“The PP regime is floating false flags to justify the war that it has been itching to unleash for two long years,” he said.
In an interview earlier this week with state-run media, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki said the Prosperity Party had declared war on his country. He said Eritrea did not want war, but added: “We know how to defend our nation.”
The two countries fought a three-year border war that broke out in 1998, five years after Eritrea won its independence from Ethiopia. They signed a historic agreement to normalize relations in 2018 that won Ethiopia’s Abiy the Nobel Peace Prize the following year. Eritrean troops then fought in support of Ethiopia’s army during a 2020-22 civil war in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.
But relations soured after Asmara was frozen out of the peace deal that ended that conflict. Since then, Eritrea has bristled at repeated public declarations by Abiy that landlocked Ethiopia has a right to sea access — comments many in Eritrea, which lies on the Red Sea, view as an implicit threat of military action.
Abiy has said Ethiopia does not seek conflict with Eritrea and wants to address the issue of sea access through dialogue.
