Iran Press/Europe: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stressed that the president’s decree is a retaliatory measure against other countries’ hostile steps.
Russia has launched an effort on creating a list of unfriendly states, which are banned from hiring Russian citizens for work in diplomatic missions, and the United States is among them, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on the Rossiya-1 TV channel.
According to Zakharova, the countries on the list will be barred from employing Russian citizens to serve on diplomatic missions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Friday on countermeasures to unfriendly actions of foreign states. Under the document, diplomatic missions, consular institutions and offices of government institutions of foreign countries acting in an unfriendly manner against Russia, Russian nationals, or legal entities will face restrictions, or even a complete ban, if necessary, in terms of employing Russian nationals. The government is tasked to define a number of individuals that can be employed by foreign missions. 219
