"Taking into account hostile actions": Russia expanded the list of unfriendly countries with restrictions for embassies

The Russian government has updated the list of unfriendly foreign states.

Greece, Denmark, Slovenia, Croatia and Slovakia have been added to those already on the list of the USA and the Czech Republic.

The document provides for limiting, up to a complete ban, for unfriendly countries the possibility of hiring employees from among persons located on the territory of Russia in embassies, consulates and representative offices of government agencies.

As noted in the press service of the government, the list approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, in addition to countries, indicates the number of individuals with whom diplomatic missions of unfriendly states and their consular offices can conclude employment contracts.

We are talking about people who are on the territory of Russia.

“So, according to the new order, Greece has a limit of 34 people, Denmark - 20, Slovakia - 16. Slovenia and Croatia will not be able to hire employees in their diplomatic missions and consular offices,” the message says.

It is noted that the list introduced by the government is not final.

“Given the ongoing hostile actions of foreign states directed against Russian missions abroad, (list. -

) may expand,” the press service of the Cabinet summed up.

In accordance with the previously published first version of the list, the Czech Republic will be able to hire a maximum of 19 workers from among Russians in its diplomatic mission, the United States - not a single one.

The inclusion of countries in the list will entail a decrease in the level of contacts for them, said the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov.

“Naturally, getting into the list of unfriendly countries entails a decrease in the level of contacts,” he stressed.

Recall, the presidential decree “On the application of measures of influence (counteraction) to unfriendly actions of foreign states”, within the framework of which a list of unfriendly countries is maintained, was signed on April 23, 2021.

The President ordered to limit the conclusion of labor and other civil law contracts with individuals located on the territory of Russia, diplomatic missions and consular offices, as well as representative offices of state institutions of foreign states that take unfriendly measures against Moscow.

The decree also regulated the number of employment contracts drawn up before the entry into force of the document.

According to the document, if the number of employees provided by the government is exceeded, the extra contracts should be terminated.

After the signing of the decree by the president, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow would not "indiscriminately" put states on the list.

As the minister said on April 28, this is about a deep analysis of the situation and identifying opportunities to deal with this country in a different way.

He stressed that the list may be revised as Russia's relations with certain states develop in the future.

The list, which includes the United States and the Czech Republic, was made public on May 14, 2021.

Shortly thereafter, the EU called on Russia to reconsider this decision.

As the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said, this must be done in order to avoid further deterioration of relations between Moscow and Brussels, which are already in a “tense state”.

Later, Lavrov again spoke about the situation.

According to him, the specific unfriendly steps taken by Washington and Prague were the reason for being included in the list.

“The unfriendly gestures served as the reason for the decision to equalize the conditions in which our diplomatic missions operate on each other’s territory – ours in the Czech Republic and the United States, theirs, respectively, in the Russian Federation,” the minister said at a press conference on May 17 .

He also recalled the arrest of Russian diplomatic property in the United States and the impossibility of Russian representatives to gain access to these facilities.

“In the United States, too, you know, the arrest of our diplomatic property, the denial of admission for many years in order for us to see at least what state the property of the Russian state is in, which was illegally taken away,” TASS quoted Lavrov as saying.