The waltz of diplomats continues between the European Union and Russia.
As a sign of solidarity with the Czech Republic, Romania will in turn expel a Russian diplomat, the Foreign Ministry announced on Monday April 26, following in the footsteps of several other countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
Alexey Grichaev, Deputy Military Attaché at the Russian Embassy in Bucharest, was "declared persona non grata in view of his activities and actions contrary to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations", according to a press release from the ministry.
Russian Ambassador Valeri Kouzmine was summoned to be informed, the same source said.
The Czech government last week accused the Russian secret service of being behind the explosion of an ammunition depot in 2014 that killed two people, expelling 18 Russian diplomats presented as spies.
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European solidarity
Russia retaliated by asking 20 Czech diplomats to leave its territory, after which Prague announced its intention to limit the number of Russian diplomats on duty so that both missions have the same number of employees.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov again denied the Czech allegations to the press on Monday.
"These are very serious accusations that have been made against Russia," he said, calling them "unfounded", "hostile" and "extremely damaging" to bilateral relations.
Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamacek asked his partners in the European Union and NATO last Tuesday to expel Russian diplomats to support Prague in its confrontation with Moscow.
Slovakia and the Baltic countries immediately announced the expulsion of a total of seven Russian diplomats.
With AFP
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