WASHINGTON — As Russia dropped the other shoe with mass expulsions of U.S. diplomats, President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to move on to normal relations between their countries.
While agreeing that "we are anxious to get this matter behind us," Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday, "We don't think there was a need for them to reciprocate" for the ouster of Russian diplomats by the United States.
Some of the expelled Russians were linked to a spy scandal; the others were said by U.S. officials to be intelligence agents under diplomatic cover.
"We thought what we were doing was necessary and appropriate," Powell told a news agency reporters.
The White House said Friday that Bush considers the matter closed. The president himself said: "We will be firm and consistent in our foreign policy."
Putin, attending a European Union summit in Stockholm, Sweden, said he did not think there would be "big consequences" from the expulsions, which were rooted in the arrest of a veteran FBI agent on charges of spying for Russia.
Powell, speaking to a newspaper association meeting in Washington, said, "Our relationship continues, and we'll see what we can do to isolate this one incident, but we are waiting to see about the totality of Russia's response."
"We did the right thing," Bush said while visiting a Salvation Army facility in Portland, Maine. "They can make whatever decision they deem necessary. Our country took the right course of action."
In Washington, Attorney General John Ashcroft said, "We always need to be vigilant that we have security risks not only from foreign intelligence operatives, but we need to make sure that our own organizations are as risk-free as possible."
He spoke on ABC's "Good Morning America" after Russia notified the United States it was expelling four American diplomats and a U.S. official said another 46 will be asked to leave by the summer.
The expulsions are in reprisal for the ouster of four Russians — two others left earlier — implicated in the Robert Hanssen spy case. Another 46 Russians assigned to the embassy in Washington and consulates across the country were told to leave by July 1.
The Kremlin did not specify which Americans would be ousted beyond the four diplomats declared persona non grata. But a senior U.S. official said Thursday a like number of Americans would be sent home, and on Friday the official confirmed the number was 46 while Powell said the number "would probably be in exact proportion."
"We're aware of what Russia has said it will do. The president considers the matter closed," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said on Air Force One as Bush headed to Maine for a speech.
Earlier Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry had announced the four immediate expulsions, saying the U.S. Embassy officials would be expelled from Russia for activities incompatible with their diplomatic status — a euphemism for espionage. A ministry press service statement did not announce the other 46 expulsions referred to by the State Department, but it indicated that more retaliatory measures would follow.
Friday's move by Russia was the latest act in a diplomatic squabble that began when the United States announced its expulsions of more than 50 Russian diplomats suspected of undercover intelligence activities.
On Thursday, Bush called for realistic, normal relations with Russia. But Russian officials made it clear the matter was not closed: They had threatened to "adequately respond" to the U.S. expulsions. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov called the U.S. expulsions a groundless political act harking back to the Cold War.
On the Net: State Department statement on expulsions of Russians: www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2001/index.cfm?docid=1570