Moscow Names Names

Keeping its word to retaliate for a U.S. decision to expel four of its diplomats, Russia on Tuesday gave a U.S. official the names of four American diplomats who must leave Moscow.

The four weren't identified, and the U.S. Embassy had no comment.

Moscow's move follows last week's announcement that four Russians were told to leave the United States in connection with the case of accused spy and veteran FBI agent Robert Hanssen, and that 46 more Russians would be told to leave by this summer.

The statement said the employees were ordered to leave for "activities incompatible with their diplomatic status," a phrase usually used for allegations of spying.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher called the Russian action "both unwarranted and unfortunate. The actions we took were a direct response to the Hanssen case, and the long-standing problem of Russian intelligence presence in the United States. With our action, we consider the matter closed."

Meanwhile, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Tuesday he will consider seeking the death penalty for Hanssen.

"The laws provide for, in some cases, the death penalty, and I would not hesitate to include the death penalty among the options that are to be considered, based on making sure that we pursue the national interest at the highest level," he told Reuters in an interview.

Overall, the Bush administration's moves -- up to and including last week -- seem designed to signal a new approach to Moscow.

"Presented with the facts, I made the decision — it was the right thing to do," the president told reporters.

"I'm confident that we can have good relations with the Russians," Mr. Bush added. "We've got some areas where we can work together but we made the right decision."

And National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said last week that
Russia's intelligence presence here had "been on the agenda for several years," and that she does not think the move will hurt relations between the two countries.

"It was raised several times in the last administration and we are pleased to have it behind us," Rice said.

Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed that Russia has spread missile technologies to Iran. The statement brought harsh words from the Russian Foreign Ministry, which demanded that Washington abandon "propaganda duels and Cold War cliches."

"There's no question they are trying to strike a tough and indeed tougher tone with regard to the Russians," said former Clinton era Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, who nevertheless said a return to Cold War frigidity was unlikely.

"We are not in a giant clash of the titans over the fundamental question of how the world should be organized and how governments should govern," Talbott said.

The U.S. expulsion order of suspected Russian spies last week is the biggest since "Operation Famish" in 1986, when President Ronald Reagan ordered 80 Soviet diplomats out of the country.

The most recent U.S. expulsion came in 1999, when Russian Stanislav Borisovich Gusev was sent packing after he was caught monitoring conversations picked up by a bug planted inside a State Department conference room.

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