Three European countries have expelled Russian diplomats in response to the expulsion of European Union (EU) officials who were part of a delegation to Moscow led by Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative.
The Guardian reported on Monday that German, Polish and Swedish officials wanted to expel a Russian diplomat from each of their respective countries in response to Moscow’s removal of three EU officials who he said had participated in anti-government demonstrations in support of Alexei Navalny, the imprisoned anti-Putin dissident.
Monday’s move was a “clear response to the unacceptable decision to expel a Swedish diplomat who was merely fulfilling his duties,” Ann Linde, Sweden’s foreign minister, said, according to The Guardian.
The German Foreign Ministry told the newspaper that the German official expelled from Moscow last week “fulfilled his duty of legally reporting on developments on the ground,” while the Polish Foreign Ministry added that it joined the effort “in accordance with the principle of reciprocity and in coordination with Germany and Sweden.”
Relations between the EU and Russia have further soured in the weeks following the poisoning of Navalny and the subsequent recovery in a German hospital. The Russian opposition leader has been in custody since returning to his home country, while thousands of Russians have taken to the streets of Moscow to demonstrate in response.
Moscow’s foreign agency responded to the news in a press conference on Monday, calling the deportations “unwarranted and unkind,” adding that the deported officials “were not the initiators of the collapse of relations,” said The Guardian.
The Biden government has also strongly condemned Navalny’s arrest, which was one of many subjects President Biden
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“I made it clear to President Putin, in a very different way from my predecessor, that the days of the United States bypassing Russia’s aggressive actions – interference in our elections, cyber attacks, poisoning its citizens – are over,” said Biden Thursday at the State Department. “We will not hesitate to raise costs to Russia and defend our vital interests and our people.”