Italy has expelled 30 Russian diplomats for “national security” reasons, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said in Berlin on Tuesday.
The Russian ambassador was summoned earlier in the day and told that the diplomats serving at the embassy are “not welcomed people,” Di Maio said to Italian public broadcaster Rai.
The decision “taken in agreement with other European and Atlantic partners” was needed for “reasons related to our national security, in the context of the current crisis resulting from the unjustified aggression against Ukraine by the Russian Federation,” Di Maio said.
“Italy is available to act as a guarantor of security and peace in Ukraine and we will do whatever it takes to carry out this work.”
Several European countries – including Italy, France, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands – also decided to expel Russian diplomats. Denmark said Tuesday it has expelled 15 alleged Russian intelligence officers it claims were working undercover as diplomats.
The expulsion of Russian diplomats is a “short-sighted step” that will “inevitably lead to retaliatory steps,” the Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a regular conference call on Tuesday.
(CNN)
