Berlin/Moscow.
Several Russian embassy employees recently had to leave Germany. Russia reacts – and expels numerous diplomats.
Russia has the on Saturday expulsion announced by more than 20 German diplomats. On the Russian state military television station Zvezda, Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, described the move as a retaliatory measure for the “renewed mass expulsion of employees of the Russian diplomatic missions in Germany”, which is regarded as a “hostile act” in Russia.
Germany confirms expulsion of Russian embassy staff
That last actually Russian embassy staff from Deutschland The federal government has now confirmed that they had to leave the country. On Saturday it was said that the Russian side had been in contact over the past few weeks about staffing the respective foreign missions. The aim was a “reduction of the Russian intelligence presence in Germany”. It is unclear how many people are involved.
Ukraine Crisis – The most important news about the war
“We have taken note of the statements made by the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry,” the Foreign Ministry said on Saturday. At the same time, it confirmed to the German Press Agency (dpa) that the flight of a Russian government plane, which took off in Berlin on Saturday morning with special permission, in connection with the “talks” with Russia stand.
The aircraft had a so-called diplomatic clearance, said a spokesman for the Air Force on Saturday when asked by the dpa. He gave no information about the cargo or the people on board. After the EU closed the Union’s airports and airspace to all Russian airlines in February 2022, Russian planes are rare. The flight therefore aroused interest on Saturday and was discussed on social media.
Russia criticizes Germany: “destroys German-Russian relations”
In Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman accused Sakharov the German side to have pushed through the expulsion of the diplomats in advance to the media. However, there was an agreement to treat the matter discreetly. Sakharova did not say which medium it should be about.
“We strongly condemn this action by Berlin, which continues to demonstratively destroy the entire range of Russian-German relations, including their diplomatic dimension,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Now there will be a “limitation of the maximum number of employees German diplomatic missions” in Russia, said Zakharova. The German Ambassador Géza Andreas von Geyr in Moscow was informed about this at the beginning of April.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year, both Germany and Russia have expelled each other’s diplomats. In addition to the Federal Republic, France, Italy, Spain and other countries also declared Russian embassy staff for undesirable. In some cases, these moves were explicitly justified by the Russian attack on Ukraine, while in other cases espionage allegations were the main focus. In response, Moscow also expelled numerous Western diplomats. (nfz/afp/dpa)
Ukraine war – background and explanations for the conflict
More articles from this category can be found here: Politics
