China News Service, April 23. According to a report from the Russian Satellite Network on the 23rd, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and Lithuania announced the expulsion of the staff of the Russian Embassy in "solidarity" with the Czech Republic.
According to reports, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania announced the expulsion of two Russian embassy staff.
The Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the expulsion of a Russian embassy staff member.
On April 17, the Czech Republic announced the expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats. On the 18th, Russia announced its response measures to expel 20 Czech diplomats.
According to Russian media, after expelling each other's diplomats, the Czech Embassy in Russia only has 5 diplomats and 19 technicians.
The Russian Embassy in the Czech Republic has 27 diplomats and 67 technicians left.
On the 21st, the Czech side required Russia to make a decision to allow the expelled Czech diplomats to return to Russia before 13:00 on the 22nd, Moscow time, otherwise it would take measures to reduce the number of personnel in the Russian embassy in the Czech Republic to the same number as those in the Czech embassy in Russia. equal.
Since then, the Russian side expressed its rejection of this request.
On the 22nd, the new Czech Foreign Minister Kulhanek stated that because Russia did not respond to the request of the Czech side, the Czech side decided to limit the number of Russian embassy in the Czech Republic to a level equivalent to the current Czech embassy in Russia.
The relevant staff of the Russian Embassy in the Czech Republic must leave the Czech Republic before the end of May.
In addition to Latvia and Lithuania, the Slovak government office announced on the 22nd that in "solidarity" with the Czech Republic, the country has decided to expel three Russian diplomats and require them to leave the country within 7 days.
In this regard, Zakharova said that the Czech Republic has already embarked on the path of undermining Russia-Czech relations, and Russia’s response measures will be introduced soon.
Zakharova also expressed disappointment at Slovakia's expulsion of Russian diplomats, saying that Slovakia had shown "hypocritical solidarity" to the Czech Republic.