The expulsions of diplomats are “a cheap continuation of the schizoid pressure campaign” on Russia and will lead nowhere, said Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the country’s Security Council. He wrote about this in his Telegram channel.
“There are international customs that are meaningless in nature and lead nowhere. Here is the expulsion of diplomats, for example, as a means of pressure on another country. <...>. If this continues, it’s just right, as I wrote back on February 26, to hang barn locks on Western embassies,” the politician said.
On April 4, Germany and France announced the expulsion of Russian diplomats. Berlin decided to declare 40 members of the diplomatic mission persona non grata, Paris did not specify the exact number of diplomats to be expelled, the AFP agency, citing sources, reported 35 diplomats threatened with expulsion, and the French television channel BFMTV about 30.
Latvia and Lithuania have decided to lower the level of diplomatic relations with Russia. Lithuania, in particular, recalled its ambassador and ordered the Russian ambassador to leave the country. The Austrian Foreign Ministry said that it does not rule out the possibility of expelling Russian diplomats.
Medvedev recalled that Moscow would respond to similar decisions of other countries “symmetrically” and would be “destructive for bilateral relations.”