New Delhi, Mar 5 (IANS): Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said a special flight is heading to Washington from Russia to pick up diplomats.

The "unidentified board" of the Rossiya company, heading from St. Petersburg to Washington, was immediately passed off by the fighters of the information front as both "the flight of the Russians" and "Moscow's attempt to get in touch with the Americans", Zakharova wrote, RT reported.

She noted that this was not the case.

"I will disappoint. This plane will return to their homeland Russian diplomats, whom the US government has declared persona non grata," added Zakharova.

Earlier, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry promised to respond to the United States for the expluslion of a Russian employee of the UN Secretariat.

On February 28, Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, announced that the United States had declared 12 Russian diplomats persona non grata.