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BLOOMBERG
Russia will cut staff limits for German diplomatic missions and expel about one-third of Berlin’s diplomats currently working in the country, foreign ministry in Moscow said.
The ministry said the move was meant to “mirror†the recent expulsion of Russian diplomats from Germany. Relations between the former major trading partners continue to deteriorate as President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine approaches the 14-month mark.
Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, said on the defense ministry’s channel Zvezda that “more than 20†German diplomats would be sent home in response to what Moscow called the recent “massive expulsion†of Russian diplomats from Germany.
Russia expelled roughly one-third of about 90 German diplomats working in Moscow, said a German official familiar with the matter who declined to be named. The Berlin-based newspaper Bild reported that Russia would banish 34 Germans.
Russia a year ago expelled 40 German diplomats after Germany sent home the same number of Russians. At that point, in response to Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, almost every European country expelled some Russian diplomats.