US diplomats set to quit Russia as hopes for rapprochement fade The deadline Friday for Moscow's departure of 755 US diplomats symbolizes the serious deterioration of relations between the two countries seven months after the arrival at the White House of a president who had promised to agree with Russia. "No one is paying any more attention to Trump (in Moscow), but the battle between the Russian authorities and the American establishment remains," said political analyst Andrei Kolesnikov of the Carnegie Center, skeptical about the future of relations between the two countries. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES.