Russia expels US deputy ambassador as Blinken prepares to address UN Security Council

Russian officials ordered US diplomat Bartle Gorman, who serves as the deputy of US ambassador in Moscow, to leave the country on Thursday amid fears that Russia is preparing to invade Ukraine.

The escalation comes hours after pro-Russian rebels accused Ukrainian forces of shelling their positions, with NATO saying Moscow was looking for an excuse to invade Ukraine.

The US Moscow embassy said it would respond to the expulsion, according to the Interfax news agency.

Meanwhile, the UK and NATO accused Moscow of trying to create a pretext for invasion by claiming Ukraine was shelling pro-Russian rebels.

US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said that evidence on the ground suggested that "Russia is moving toward an imminent invasion."

Moscow responds to US security proposal
Russian officials handed their response to US proposal on European security to US diplomats in Moscow. According to the document cited by Russian news agency Interfax, Moscow believes Washington "did not give a constructive response" to an earlier initiative out of Moscow.

Russia restated its demands for NATO to reset their military capacities to and infrastructure in Eastern Europe to where they were in 1997.

"In the absence of readiness from the American side to negotiate hard, legally binding guarantees of our safety by the US and its allies, Russia would be forced to react, including by taking military-technical measures," the document says.

Previously, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said it was "absolutely necessary that relevant civil society groups in our two countries know" what Russia's stance is.

"I believe you will learn very quickly about how the situation will develop further," Lavrov told reporters at a press conference earlier on Thursday.