Three European countries, including Poland, Sweden and Germany, have decided to expel Russian diplomats after the Kremlin announced the ejection of three European envoys last week, saying they had attended rallies in support of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, as was reported by the New York Times.
Germany, Poland and Sweden announced a coordinated, tit-for-tat expulsion of three Russian diplomats on Monday in retaliation to Moscow’s decision last week to expel diplomats from the three countries for monitoring the protests that followed the jailing of the opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny.
“But Moscow’s actions were judged by experts to be more serious, since they represented a calculated insult to the European Union and its foreign-policy chief, who was engaged in a news conference with his Russian counterpart when the expulsions were revealed,” the New York Times reported.
Ricard Rizvyak, correspondent of Radio Liberty in Brussels, stated that Russian diplomats shall be declared persona non grata in all three countries.
“This afternooon the Russian embassies in #Germany, #Sweden and #Poland will be told that one Russian diplomat in each of those countries will be declared persona non grata as a coordinated response to Friday's expulsions. #Russia #navalnyprotests," he tweeted.
Russian diplomats working at their country's embassies on the territory of these states shall return to their homeland soon.