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Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday that Moscow was expelling more than 20 German diplomats, while Berlin said some Russian diplomats had left Germany, RIA Novosti said.
Russia announced the expulsion of “more than 20” German diplomats. (from Reuters)
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A German foreign ministry official said Berlin and Moscow had been in contact over the past few weeks about their respective representations aimed at reducing Russia’s intelligence presence in Germany.
“The departure of Russian embassy staff today is related to this,” the official said. The German Foreign Office declined to say how many Russian diplomats had left.
Relations between Russia and Germany, once the largest buyers of Russian oil and gas, have broken down since Moscow sent armed forces into Ukraine in February 2022 and the West responded with sanctions and arms supplies to Ukraine.
Commenting on the German expulsions, the Russian foreign ministry said: “We strongly condemn these actions in Berlin, which continue to visibly undermine the entire Russian-German relationship.”
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It said its expulsions would be “reciprocal” and would significantly limit the maximum number of staff at German diplomatic missions.
It said the German ambassador had been informed of the moves during talks on April 5.
German newspaper Bild reported that 34 of the 90 German diplomats remaining in Moscow had been told to leave Russia.
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