The expulsion of Russian diplomats from Germany is connected with the desire of Berlin to reduce the activity of Russian special services. It is reported by RBC with reference to N-TV.
“Over the past few weeks, the federal government has been negotiating with the Russian side about the availability [сотрудников] in the relevant diplomatic missions abroad in order to reduce the presence of Russian intelligence officers in Germany, ”the country’s Foreign Ministry said. The department clarified that the expulsion of diplomats is connected with this.
On April 22, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Germany had decided on the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats. The country’s leadership condemned the actions of Berlin, which “continues to defiantly destroy the entire array of Russian-German relations, including their diplomatic dimension.”
On the same day, Bild wrote that Russia was expelling 34 German diplomats out of 90 working in Moscow. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow had expelled more than 20 people. The Russian Foreign Ministry called it a mirror response to Germany’s decision.
dpa reported that a Russian government plane flew from Moscow to Berlin in the morning with special diplomatic clearance, but it is not known if there were Russian diplomats on board. The plane later returned to the Russian capital.
According to the German security authorities, there are about 160 Russian intelligence officers in Germany – more than during the Cold War, wrote the German edition of Focus. At the end of March, it reported that Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock was going to expel more than 30 Russian diplomats who were suspected of using their status to obtain various information for sabotage and disinformation operations. The German Foreign Office did not confirm these plans.
Source: Rosbalt
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