REUTERS - Russia expelled 59 diplomats from 23 countries on Friday and said it reserved the right to take action against four other nations in a worsening standoff with the West over the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain.

REUTERS - The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned a slew of senior Western diplomats on Friday to set out the retaliatory measures it was taking in a standoff with the West over the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain.

REUTERS - Russia expelled 60 U.S. diplomats on Thursday and announced it would eject scores from other countries that have joined London and Washington in censuring Moscow over the poisoning of a spy.

The U.S. ambassador was also ordered to shut the consulate in St Petersburg, in Russia’s retaliation for the biggest expulsion of diplomats since the Cold War.

AFP - The Kremlin said Wednesday that President Vladimir Putin was still ready to hold a summit with US counterpart Donald Trump despite the mass Western expulsions of Russian diplomats in a spy row.

"This depends on the American side, but the Russian side remains open," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

AFP - The Kremlin on Wednesday accused Washington of trying to complicate international efforts to probe the use of chemical weapons in Syria and rejected accusations it was responsible for recent attacks.

The comments came after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Russia bore responsibility for recently reported chemical attacks by the Syrian government in East Ghouta.