Russia warns U.S.: More diplomats will have to leave next year

Russian officials said Wednesday that a number of U.S. Embassy staff will have to leave the country before January, a new twist in an escalating diplomatic spat.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a briefing the decision will affect diplomats who had spent more than three years in the country and would be a tit-for-tat response to the U.S. sending 55 Russian diplomats home.

Russia's ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov said last week that 27 Russian diplomats and their families are being expelled from the United States."We are facing a serious staff shortage," he said.