US sees no diplomatic moves over Russian spy flap

The United States said Wednesday it plans no diplomatic actions in response to the alleged Russian spy ring broken up this week by the FBI.

State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the Obama administration wants to “move beyond” the incident and was “not anticipating” any diplomatic steps in response to the arrests of 11 suspected Russian agents.

During the Cold War, the discovery of spy rings often led to expulsion of diplomats by either the United States or Soviet Union, which sometimes triggered similar responses from the other side.

But Crowley said that “I’m not aware that we’re going to expel any diplomat at this point.”

Washington and Moscow have sought to downplay the incident and US officials said the uproar would not damage President Barack Obama’s vaunted “reset” of ties with the Kremlin.