War in Ukraine: Russia expels 34 French ambassadors

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Diplomacy – eye to eye, tooth to tooth. In retaliation, Russia on Wednesday announced the expulsion of 34 French ambassadors France deported 41 Russians in AprilFollowing the attack Ukraine.

The French ambassador to Moscow was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday and given a note stating that “34 employees of French embassies in Russia have been declared ‘non-personal grata'”, the diplomatic statement said. According to the same source they have to leave Russia within two weeks. Paris responded immediately and “strongly condemns” this decision.

In April, France announced the expulsion of 41 Russian diplomats who were engaged in espionage operations under the cover of their embassy, ​​noting that the permit was part of a “European approach”.

The Spanish and Italian ambassadors were also expelled

Russia on Wednesday “strongly protested against the” provocative and unsubstantiated decision of the French authorities “to expel Russian diplomats, a statement from the Russian diplomatic corps said, adding that the move was” extremely damaging to Russian-French relations and constructive “. Bilateral cooperation ”.

Many European countries, including Germany, Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Austria, Poland, Greece or Croatia, have largely expelled Russian diplomats since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine on February 24. In some cases, these evictions have been accompanied by allegations of espionage.

Moscow has vowed to respond to each of these measures, and dozens of Western diplomats have already been expelled from Russia. Following France, Russia announced the expulsion of 27 Spanish diplomats and 24 of their Italian counterparts. Mario Draghi, President of the Italian Council, condemned the “hostile act.” “But we must completely avoid severing diplomatic ties. This should not lead to the breaking of diplomatic channels, because if we make peace, we will achieve it through these diplomatic channels, ”the head of the Italian government told a news conference in Rome.

According to the Russian media, the ambassador From Sweden The Russian Foreign Ministry was also invited this Wednesday.

See also Hafost: War in Ukraine: What is the status of Chernobyl after Russia’s exit?