Russia on Friday gave two Italian diplomats a week to leave the country, Italy's Foreign Ministry said in a statement, amid an increasingly bitter standoff over a nerve attack against a former Russian spy living in England.

On Monday, Italy expelled two Russian diplomats in an expression of solidarity with NATO and European Union ally Britain.

Earlier on Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned a slew of senior Western diplomats to set out the retaliatory measures it was taking with the West after numerous countries had expelled Russian diplomats.