Some countries – such as the United States, Poland and Slovakia – have accused Russian embassy staff of conducting espionage under diplomatic guise. Others, including the Baltic States, have merely cited violations of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
The story continues below the ad
Moscow has described the espionage allegations as unfounded. It has also responded in kind, expelling some Western diplomats from Russia.
It is not the first time that Western nations have banned Russian diplomats. In recent years, Russian diplomats have been expelled by former President Barack Obama for hacking in connection with the 2016 presidential election. In 2018, over two dozen nations expelled a total of more than 150 Russian diplomats – the largest number since the Cold War – after intelligence officials used a nerve agent to attack Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal in the city of Salisbury.
President Obama expels 35 🇷🇺 diplomats in Cold War deja vu. As everyone including 🇺🇸 people will be glad to see the last of these unfortunate adm. pic.twitter.com/mleqA16H8D
— Russian Embassy, United Kingdom (@RussianBotschaft) December 29, 2016
While many nations symbolically expelled a diplomat or two in 2018, the United States expelled 60 and Britain 23. Russia reacted and was unimpressed.
The US Government🇺🇸 has ordered the closure of the Russian Consulate in Seattle @GK_Seattle🇷🇺. Which US Consulate General would you close? @Russiaif it were up to you to decide
— Embassy of Russia in USA 🇷🇺 (@RusEmbUSA) March 26, 2018
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, just over 100 Russian diplomats from around a dozen countries have been ordered to leave their posts following the Russian invasion. Here is the status of the evictions:
The United States Mission to the United Nations announced that it had opened a case to expel 12 “intelligence operatives” from Russia’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations for “abusing their rights to reside” in the United States by they “engaged in prejudicial espionage activities.” to our national security.” The action has been in development for several months, the US mission said.
Montenegro has declared a diplomat at the Russian embassy in Podgorica persona non grata, citing a violation of diplomatic norms.
Slovakia expelled three employees of the Russian embassy and asked the embassy to ensure that its employees follow diplomatic conventions.
The story continues below the ad
A day later, Slovakia charged two people with espionage for Russia. One was a former military academy officer who was an “intelligence contact of Russian GRU officers … for whom he sought, collected and passed on information of strategic importance,” according to Slovak Police Chief Stefan Hamran. The other man was described by Reuters as a contributor to a website that was shut down for spreading disinformation.
March 18: Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Bulgaria
In a coordinated move, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have expelled a total of 10 Russian diplomats for “connection to activities contrary to their diplomatic status and taking into account ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine,” according to Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics called in a tweet.
The story continues below the ad
On the same day, Bulgaria announced it was sacking 10 diplomats, an unprecedented move for a country with deep traditional ties to Russia.
Poland “expelled 45 Russian spies posing as diplomats,” Poland’s Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said in a tweet. “With full consistency and determination we smash the agents of the Russian secret services in our country.”
In an interview with The Post, Stanislaw Zaryn, a spokesman for Poland’s security services, said the expelled diplomats included people known to be working for or assisting the Russian intelligence services while benefiting from diplomatic status in Poland. The security agency noted that the activities of the 45 Russians, according to a government statement, “served the objectives of Russian undertakings aimed at undermining the stability of Poland and its allies.”
The story continues below the ad
Russia’s ambassador to Poland said embassy staff were doing “normal diplomatic and trade work,” according to Russia’s state-run news agency Tass.
Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Lukasz Jasina said people had five days to leave the country – but one particularly dangerous person had 48 hours. Zaryn told the AP the person had been in contact with a Polish person who works at the Warsaw registry office and was arrested on March 17 on suspicion of spying for the Russian secret services.
“The illegal activities of these diplomats can also pose a threat to the people who left their country to flee the war and found shelter in our country,” Jasina said.
Russia said it had informed Montenegro that it was expelling a diplomat from Russia.
Russia retaliated by expelling three employees from the Slovak embassy in Moscow.
March 29: Belgium, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Ireland
Belgium is ordering 21 Russian diplomats to leave for activities related to espionage or illegal influence activities, the country’s foreign ministry confirmed on Tuesday.
The story continues below the ad
The Netherlands said it would expel 17 Russians, described as intelligence officers. The Czech Republic has expelled a diplomat. Ireland told four senior Russian officials that they had to leave for actions considered “in accordance with international standards of diplomatic conduct”.
Russia announced it was canceling the diplomatic accreditations of 10 diplomats from the Baltic States and condemned the “provocative” and “unprovoked” action taken against Russian diplomats less than two weeks earlier. Russia expelled the same number of diplomats expelled from each nation: three each from Estonia and Latvia, and four from Lithuania.
Emily Rauhala and Quentin Ariès contributed to this report.