Kremlin says Russia did not initiate 'any diplomatic war'

The Kremlin said today it was not Russia that had unleashed a diplomatic war with the West following the mass expulsion of US envoys in retaliation against coordinated moves by Britain and its allies over a spy poisoning.

"Russia did not unleash any diplomatic war," President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

"Russia never initiated any exchange of sanctions.