Moscow has kicked out diplomats from France, Italy and Spain in retaliation for the expulsion of Russian diplomats from European countries as part of a joint action against Russia’s campaign in Ukraine.
Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that it was expelling 34 “employees of French diplomatic missions” in Russia and gave them two weeks to leave the country.
Moscow made the announcement after summoning France’s ambassador to Russia, Pierre Levy, and telling him that the expulsion of 41 employees of Russian diplomatic missions was a “provocative and unfounded decision”, the statement said.
The ministry later said that 27 employees of the Spanish embassy in Moscow and the Spanish Consulate General in Saint Petersburg “have been declared persona non grata” and will have seven days to leave Russia.
The ministry told Spanish ambassador Marcos Gomez Martinez that the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Madrid “would have a negative impact on Russian-Spanish relations”.
In turn, Spain criticised Russia for the move.
“The Russian authorities justify this decision on the basis of reciprocity for the expulsion of 27 Russian embassy officials in April. But that expulsion was based on justified security reasons, which are not present in this case,” a foreign ministry statement said.
Aljazeera
