Russia on Thursday announced a tit-for-tat retaliation to the Trump administration’s expulsion of 60 Russian intelligence officers and closing of the country’s consulate in Seattle.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Vladimir Putin’s government would expel 60 US diplomats and close the American Consulate in St. Petersburg.

“The measures would be reciprocal. They include expulsion of the equivalent number of diplomats and they include our decision to withdraw our agreement to allow the United States’ general consulate to operate in St. Petersburg,” Lavrov told reporters.

Jon Huntsman, the US ambassador to Moscow, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to get the news, which was not unexpected.

The US, EU and other American allies punished Putin after blaming the Kremlin for the March 4 nerve agent attack in Britain on a former Russian spy-turned-double agent and his daughter.

Russia said it would also retaliate against those other countries.

The foreign ministry said 58 US diplomats in Moscow and two general consulate officials in Yekaterinburg had to go by April 5. The American consulate in Vladivostok was not affected.

The country’s foreign ministry rebuked the US for what it called “slander.”

“We invite the US government, which is encouraging and fanning the campaign of slander against our country, to rethink and stop these reckless actions destroying our bilateral relations,” the ministry said in a statement.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert protested Russia’s “unwarranted” response against “our entirely justified action.”

“There is no justification for the Russian response,” Nauert said, describing Russia as “not serious about being a cooperative world player.”

Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned by the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok that British officials say was left on the door of their home in England.

Russia denied involvement in the attack, and said it suspected that British spies were trying to frame the Kremlin to stoke anti-Russian hatred.

Skripal, 66, a former Russian military intelligence officer who betrayed Russian agents to Britain and was then exchanged in a swap that included New York-based Russian spy Anna Chapman, is still hospitalized in critical condition.

His 33-year-old daughter remained in the English hospital where she was being treated, and officials said Thursday that her condition had improved.

President Trump, who last week congratulated Putin on his victory in a rigged election but made no mention of the attack, has not publicly commented on the expulsions.

But administration officials said the hard-line response reflected Trump’s view that tough action was necessary.

“This is the largest expulsion of Russian intelligence officers in United States history,” Huntsman said on Monday.

In addition to the US and 14 countries in the EU, Ukraine, Canada and Albania joined the effort, expelling about 100 Russians in all.

The beef with Russia comes as the country’s interference in the 2016 US election remains under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, who also is probing whether Trump’s campaign colluded with any Russians.

The president has adamantly denied collusion.

With Wires