KYIV, 19 February 2022, (TON): Russia expelled the deputy chief of the US mission in Moscow. The State Department confirmed the expulsion of Bart Gorman, calling it unprovoked.

The move came amid heightened tensions between Russia and the US, fuelled by fears that Moscow plans to invade Ukraine.

Gorman was second in command at the US embassy in Moscow and had an open visa. He spent less than three years in Moscow.

Washington accused Moscow of misleading the world with disinformation by saying it was returning some troops to bases, charging that Moscow has instead added as many as 7,000 more troops near its tense border with Ukraine.

Tensions spiked along the line that separates Ukrainian forces from Russia-backed separatists in the country’s east, with the parties accusing each other of intensive shelling.

Western fears resurged that Russia is planning to invade Ukraine, after weeks of East-West tensions that have threatened Europe’s post-Cold War balance of power.

The US and its Nato partners said they had seen no sign yet of Russia’s promised troop withdrawal.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said at Nato headquarters in Brussels “We’ve seen some of those troops inch closer to that border. We see them fly in more combat and support aircraft.”