MOSCOW/LONDON — Britain has to reduce its diplomatic staff in Russia by more than 50 more people, the foreign ministry said on Saturday, following an escalating row over the nerve agent attack on a former double agent. The new measures are seen as punishment for Britain’s calls on allies to expel Russian diplomats. “Russia suggested parity. The British side has more than 50 more people,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. On Friday, Moscow summoned British ambassador Laurie Bristow, giving London a month to cut the number of diplomatic staff to the same number Russia has in Britain. Bristow had been handed a protest note in connection with the “provocative and unfounded actions of the British side which instigated the unwarranted expulsion of Russian diplomats from a variety of states,” the foreign ministry said Friday. In all, more than 150 Russian diplomats have been ordered out of the US, EU members, NATO countries and other nations in solidarity with Britain over the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter on British soil in early March. Earlier this month Russia expelled 23 British diplomats, closed a British consulate in Saint Petersburg and halted the activities of British Council. They came after Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats and suspended high-level contacts, among other measures. On Friday, Russia expelled diplomats from 23 other countries — most of them EU member states —in retaliation against the West, in the biggest wave of tit-for-tat expulsions in recent memory. Meanwhile in another development, Britain said on Saturday it was considering Moscow’s request for consular access to Yulia Skripal, the daughter of a former Russian spy targeted in a nerve agent attack. Sergei Skripal and his daughter have been in hospital since March 4 after being poisoned in an attack in Britain that London and its major Western allies blame on Russia. The Foreign Office said that in reaching its decision, it would take into account whether Yulia Skripal wanted Russian officials to pay her a visit in hospital. Yulia Skripal came out of critical care on Thursday. The 33-year-old was “improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition”, said Salisbury District Hospital. She is now in a “stable” condition — with the BBC reporting that she was conscious and talking. “We are considering requests for consular access in line with our obligations under international and domestic law, including the rights and wishes of Yulia Skripal,” a Foreign Office spokeswoman said. — AFP