Tit-for-tat move came after Russia expelled diplomats of Germany, Sweden ad Poland, over their support to Alexei Navalny
Germany, Poland and Sweden have expelled an employee of Russian Embassy in their respective country, in a retaliatory move, after Russia expelled a German, a Polish and a Swedish diplomat.
Russia had last week expelled diplomats of Germany, Sweden ad Poland, over their support to Alexei Navalny, one of the biggest critics of the President of Russia – Vladimir Putin. The announcement of expulsion of European diplomats was made when the European Union (E.U.) Minister for Foreign Affairs – Josep Borell was in Russia to meet the Foreign Minister of Russia – Sergery Lavrov.
Russia said the diplomats participated in demonstrations in support of Alexey Navalny. However, Germany, Sweden and Poland have refuted this and had said that the diplomats were merely carrying out their task of reporting on developments on the spot in a legal fashion.
Tweeting the Statement issued by Spokesperson of Foreign Ministry, the German Foreign Office tweeted,
Statement issued by a spokesperson on the expulsion of a staff member of the Russian Embassy in Berlin: 👇 pic.twitter.com/9OFLN1MUEw
— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) February 8, 2021
Taking it to twitter, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland tweeted,
In response to the groundless expulsion of the 🇵🇱diplomat by @mfa_russia, the 🇵🇱MFA has decided today in accordance with the principle of reciprocity and in coordination with🇩🇪 and 🇸🇪 to consider the 🇷🇺diplomat working at the 🇷🇺Consulate General in Poznań as a persona non grata.
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs 🇵🇱 (@PolandMFA) February 8, 2021
The Minister of Foreign affairs of Sweden – Ann Linde tweeted,
We have informed the Russian Ambassador that a person from the Russian embassy is asked to leave Sweden. This is a clear response to the unacceptable decision to expel a Swedish diplomat who was only preforming his duties.
— Ann Linde (@AnnLinde) February 8, 2021
The diplomatic ties between Russia and E.U. hit a new low when German Chancellor – Angela Merkel criticised Russia for poisoning Navalny with a chemical nerve agent, from a Novichok group.
Meanwhile, a District Court in Moscow had sentenced Alexei Navalny to two and a half years in prison. The Court ruled that while Navalny was in Germany, he violated the probation terms from a 2014 case in which he had received a suspended sentence of three and a half years. The Court observed that suspended sentence will now be replaced with a prison term. The judge took into account the 11 months Navalny had already spent under house arrest as part of the decision.
The case goes back to 2014 when Navalny was found guilty of fraud after he and his brother Oleg were accused of stealing 30 million Rubles (U.S. $ 540,000) from a Russian subsidiary of French cosmetics company – Yves Rocher. While Navalny was given a suspended sentence, his brother was jailed.
