Russia announced on Friday April 8 the expulsion of 45 Polish diplomats in retaliation for an equivalent measure decided at the end of March by Warsaw.
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“Due to the principle of reciprocity, 45 employees of the Polish Embassy and its General Consulates in Irkutsk, Kaliningrad and Saint Petersburg have been declared “persona non grata“,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. These diplomats will have to leave Russia by April 13, according to the same source. Poland announced at the end of March to expel “45 Russian spies posing as diplomatsin the context of the Russian offensive in Ukraine since February 24. This measure demonstrates aWarsaw’s conscious desire to permanently destroy bilateral relations“, denounced Russian diplomacy on Friday.
“When we expelled 45 Russian diplomats for engaging in activities unbecoming diplomats, we were well aware that the principle of reciprocity prevails in relations between States“Reacted for his part on Friday the head of Polish diplomacy, Zbigniew Rau. “This step is therefore not a surprise for us. We will proceed according to our established plan“, he added. In recent days, dozens of Russian diplomats have been expelled from European countries, including Germany, Italy, France and Spain. Moscow should reciprocate. On Friday, Russia announced the expulsion of two Bulgarian diplomats in response to a similar measure taken in March.