The Authoritarian Putin has played his hand…expressing outrage at the unmitigated gal of the British expulsion of four Russian “diplomats,” the Russian government has responded in kind, expelling four British officials.

This is typical of Putin’s heavy-handed response, after all Putin is quite accustomed to getting his way, how dare the British take exception with Russia release a horde of assassins on the unsuspecting British public, who do they think they are a free people living in a sovereign nation?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6906481.stm