(Reuters) – Russia announced on Friday the expulsion of 18 members of the European Union’s diplomatic representation in Moscow in response to Brussels’ April 5 decision to expel 19 Russian diplomats.
In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the head of the European delegation to Moscow, Markus Ederer, to tell him of Russia’s criticisms of the “responsibility of the EU in the constant destruction of the architecture dialogue and bilateral cooperation”.
European diplomats must leave Russia as soon as possible, the ministry said.
The European Union, which had justified the expulsion of the 19 Russians by the fact that they had activities contravening their diplomatic status, denounced in a press release an “unfounded” decision constituting in its eyes a pure “retaliatory measure “.
(Reuters report, French version Tangi Salaün, edited by Matthieu Protard)
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