WASHINGTON, May 8: Russia has expelled two US military attaches from the US Embassy in Moscow following the ouster in recent months of a pair of Russian diplomats from Washington, the State Department said on Thursday. But US officials sought to play down suggestions of a tit-for-tat move by Moscow.

US-Russian relations have been strained in recent years over a series of issues, including Washington’s view that human rights suffered under Vladimir Putin, who stepped down on Wednesday as president.

“They have been asked to leave. We object to the action but will comply with the Russian government’s request,” said State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos of the American attaches.

US officials declined to draw any connection between the expulsion of the Americans and the Russians. One of the Russian defence officials was asked to leave Washington last month and the other in November last year.

“We are looking at each of these actions as a separate incident and evaluating who did what when. We don’t view this as an escalation of tensions between the two countries,” said a US official.

The State Department declined to provide reasons for the expulsion orders to the US diplomats, which were issued at the end of last month. “They have not been declared persona non grata but they have been asked to leave,” said a State Department official, who declined to be named.

“For the time being we are not going into details on this,” he added.

In Moscow, a Russian foreign ministry spokesman said: “We do not have any comment at the moment.” The Russian Embassy in Washington also declined to provide any details, saying it never commented on the expulsion of diplomats.

The US is not planning a response at this time to Russia’s expulsion of the two attaches, according to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

—Reuters