The Russian Foreign Ministry has announced “retaliatory measures” following the “new mass expulsions” of Russian diplomats in Germany.
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday the expulsion of “more than twenty” German diplomats, in retaliation according to him for a similar measure taken by Berlin.
For its part, the German Foreign Ministry reported “a flight” this Saturday from Berlin with Russian “members of the embassy” on board, without specifying whether they were expelled diplomats.
“More than twenty” German diplomats are expelled from Russia, the spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy told Zvezda television.
“Retaliation measures” according to Russian diplomacy
Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement announcing “retaliatory measures” following “the new mass expulsion” of Russian diplomats in Germany.
“We strongly condemn these actions of Berlin, which continues to destroy (…) the whole range of Russian-German relations, including their diplomatic dimension”, lambasted the Russian diplomacy.
Moscow specifies that it “officially notified” the German ambassador, Geza Andreas von Geyr, on April 5 of its decision to “considerably limit the maximum number of employees of German diplomatic missions” in Russia.
Asked by AFP, the German Foreign Ministry said it “had read the statements” of Maria Zakharova.
In 2022, about forty Russian diplomats expelled
“The federal government and the Russian side have been in contact in recent weeks” in particular on a “reduction of the presence of Russian intelligence services in Germany”, he added.
A close economic partner of Russia before the military offensive in Ukraine, Germany has since moved away from Moscow, supporting kyiv financially and militarily in the conflict.
At the end of January, Berlin had finally agreed to send a substantial number of its Leopard tanks, a turning point in Western military support. In the spring of 2022, Germany expelled around 40 Russian diplomats who it said posed a threat to its security.
Russian espionage activities in Germany
Since the start of the offensive in Ukraine, Russian espionage activities in Germany have taken on a scale rarely equaled in recent years, underlined the German security services which have regularly warned against this threat.
The German intelligence services have further raised their level of alert on these issues.
On October 18, the head of the German cybersecurity agency, Arne Schönbohm, was dismissed, after press articles on his proximity to a cybersecurity consulting association, itself suspected of contacts with Russian intelligence services. .
A month later, a German reserve officer was given a one-year and nine-month suspended prison sentence in Dusseldorf (west) for spying for Russia.
