Russia expels 2 Romanian diplomats in a tit-for-tat move
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday announced the expulsion of two military diplomats from the Romanian Embassy in a tit-for-tat move a month after Romania expelled two Russian diplomats.
Mutual expulsions of diplomats by Russia and Western countries have become increasingly common in recent years amid heightened tensions over the fighting in Ukraine.
The ministry said in a statement that it summoned the embassy’s deputy head of mission, Liliana Burda, and handed her a notice declaring the embassy’s defense attaché and his deputy “persona non grata.”
According to the statement, the move is a response to what the ministry called “a groundless decision” to declare the military attaché at the Russian embassy in Bucharest and his assistant “persona non grata.” The ministry didn’t provide any further detail.
Romania said last month it had expelled two military diplomats from the Russian Embassy in Bucharest over alleged “activities that contravene the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961.”
The Russian embassy at the time described the decision as “unfounded and unfriendly” and said Moscow “reserves the right to take retaliatory measures.”
The expulsions came a day after Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service reportedly claimed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had asked Bucharest to bar Romanian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in last year’s canceled election, from participating in the rerun in May.
Georgescu has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin in the past as “a man who loves his country” and called Ukraine “an invented state,” but he claims not to be pro-Russian.
