The US ambassador to Russia has left the country, state media reports, after the Kremlin told him to go home

• Ambassador John Sullivan left Russia to return to the US, Russian state media reported Thursday.
• Russia urged the move after it expelled 10 US diplomats, retaliation for US expulsions.
• The US Embassy in Moscow said earlier this week that Sullivan would go back for "consultations."

The US ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, has left Moscow to return home, state media outlets reported Thursday, a move recently requested by the Kremlin.

Sullivan departed from Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport on Thursday morning to London, where he was to take a connecting flight back to the US, the Tass and Interfax state news agencies reported.

On Tuesday, the US Embassy in Moscow said Sullivan would return to the US this week for "consultations" but did not give a departure time.

Sullivan's exit comes amid high tensions between the Kremlin and President Joe Biden's administration.

Russia had urged Washington to bring Sullivan home as it announced the expulsion of 10 US diplomats in retaliation to new sanctions and the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats by the Biden administration.

The demand was a stark move: Countries are usually free to choose their own ambassadors, and it is rare, though not unprecedented, for host nations to object.

Russia had earlier recalled its ambassador to the US amid anger over Biden referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "killer."

"I believe it is important for me to speak directly with my new colleagues in the Biden administration in Washington about the current state of bilateral relations between the United States and Russia," Sullivan said in a Tuesday statement.

"Also, I have not seen my family in well over a year, and that is another important reason for me to return home for a visit.

"I will return to Moscow in the coming weeks before any meeting between Presidents Biden and Putin."