A sign is displayed outside the entrance to the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., US, on March 26, 2018. (AL DRAGO / BLOOMBERG)

Russia’s ambassador to Washington said more than 50 diplomats and family members will have to leave the US by mid-2022, blaming unresolved visa issues.

“Our diplomats have been being thrown out,” Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said in an interview on a Russian state television anchor’s YouTube channel.  “We are facing serious staff shortages.”

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US authorities also haven’t been extending visas for diplomats’ family members in what he alleged is a “policy to separate families,” according to the comments late Saturday. 

He said 27 diplomats and family members would have to leave by Jan 30 and an additional 27 by June 30. 

The State Department in Washington didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

With US-Russian relations at the most fraught in decades, the two sides have been feuding over the number of diplomats at each other’s embassies. 

READ MORE: Russia expels 60 US diplomats in tit-for-tat move

In April, Russia banned the US from employing its citizens, forcing the embassy in Moscow to cut consular staff by 75 percent.