The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Saturday the expulsion of “more than twenty” German diplomats, in retaliation according to him for a similar measure taken by Berlin.
For its part, the German Foreign Ministry reported “a flight” on Saturday departing from Berlin with Russian “members of the embassy” on board, without specifying whether they were expelled diplomats.
“More than twenty” German diplomats are being expelled from Russia, Russian diplomatic spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Zvezda television.
Earlier on Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement announcing “retaliatory measures” following “the new mass expulsion” of Russian diplomats to Germany.
“We strongly condemn these actions by Berlin, which continues to destroy […] the whole range of Russian-German relations, including their diplomatic dimension,” castigated Russian diplomacy.
Moscow specifies that it “officially notified” on April 5 to the German ambassador, in Geza Andreas von Geyr, of its decision to “considerably limit the maximum number of employees of German diplomatic missions” in Russia.
Asked by theFrance Media Agencythe German Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated “having read the statements” of Ms. Zakharova.
“The federal government and the Russian side have been in contact in recent weeks” in particular on a “reduction of the presence of Russian intelligence services in Germany”, he added.
A close economic partner of Russia before the military offensive in Ukraine, Germany has since moved away from Moscow, supporting kyiv financially and militarily in the conflict.
At the end of January, Berlin had finally agreed to send a substantial number of its Leopard tanks, a turning point in Western military support.
In the spring of 2022, Germany expelled around 40 Russian diplomats who it said posed a threat to its security.
Since the start of the offensive in Ukraine, Russian espionage activities in Germany have taken on a scale rarely equaled in recent years, underlined the German security services which have regularly warned against this threat.
The German intelligence services have further raised their level of alert on these issues.
On October 18, the head of the German cybersecurity agency, Arne Schönbohm, was dismissed, after press articles on his proximity to a cybersecurity consulting association, itself suspected of contacts with Russian intelligence services. .
A month later, a German reserve officer was given a one-year and nine-month suspended prison sentence in Dusseldorf (west) for spying for Russia.