UPDATE 2: BuzzFeed News' Jason Leopold has tweeted the White House's statement.
UPDATE: State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert responded strongly to the news Russia is retaliating for being punished over its likely poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
CNN:
"We don't see this as a diplomatic tit for tat," Nauert told reporters at the State Department shortly after Moscow announced the move.
(...)
"Russia should not be acting like a victim," Nauert said Thursday. "The only victims in this situation are the two victims in the hospital in the UK right now and the people who cannot go into the park, the medical workers, the first responders who are now having to be treated and watched carefully because they may have come into contact with that substance."
Relaying a message from US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman, Nauert said it was clear the Russian government was "not interested in a dialogue on issues that matter to our two countries."
She added that the US is reserving the right to respond with additional actions and bemoaned the impact the consulate's closure will have on locally employed Russian staffers.
"If Russia is concerned about its economy, it wouldn't be taking these actions, because those people will be hurt," she said.
US says Russia 'should not be acting like a victim' following expulsions (CNN)
The Kremlin announced Thursday it will retaliate for the United States' expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats and the closure of the Russian consulate in Seattle by expelling 60 American diplomats from Russia and closing a more significant facility.
NYT:
Furious at what it described as an anti-Russian campaign orchestrated by Washington and London, the Kremlin exceeded an equivalent response to the United States and ordered the closing of the American consulate in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city. The consulate is bigger and far more important to relations than the Russian consulate in Seattle, which the Trump administration ordered closed on Monday as part of its expulsion decree.
The crisis over the March 4 poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter has driven tensions between the Kremlin and the West to their highest pitch in decades and forced European countries like Germany that are usually wary of clashing with Moscow to choose sides. Britain contends that the poison used was a signature Russian nerve agent created by Soviet-era scientists.
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In all, 27 countries are ejecting more than 150 Russians, including people listed by their embassies and consulates as diplomats, and military and cultural attachés. Western officials say that many of the Russians are spies and that the expulsions will hinder Russian espionage.
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Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday that it would make a “mirror” response to expulsions by Germany, France and other countries that expelled a small number of Russian diplomats, suggesting equivalent expulsions of diplomats from European countries, Australia and other nations that ordered out Russian envoys on Monday.
But Moscow avoided denouncing those countries and instead accused the American authorities of “encouraging and fomenting a slander campaign against our country.” In a statement, the ministry demanded that they “stop their reckless actions aimed at ruining bilateral relations.”
Russia to Expel 60 U.S. Diplomats; Tensions Are Worst in Decades (NYT)