Response to Bucha atrocities
“Undesirable people”: Germany expels 40 Russian diplomats
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks of “undesirable people”
© Filip Singer / Getty Images
It should be a hard signal to Moscow: the federal government is expelling a large number of employees of the Russian embassy. It is likely to be members of the secret services.
The federal government has declared 40 Russian diplomats “undesirable persons” in Germany. A decision was made on Monday to “declare a significant number of members of the Russian embassy to be undesirable persons who have worked here in Germany every day against our freedom, against the cohesion of our society,” said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) in Berlin . If diplomats are declared undesirable persons, this is tantamount to expulsion. Russia announced a reaction.
The work of the Russian diplomats concerned “is a threat to those who seek protection from us,” Baerbock said in justification for the expulsion. “We will not tolerate this any longer. We informed the Russian ambassador this afternoon.”
The Russian Ambassador Sergei Neschajew was summoned to the Federal Foreign Office by State Secretary Andreas Michaelis and informed of the expulsion. The persons concerned have five days to leave Germany. According to this information, the Russians are personnel who can be assumed to belong to the Russian intelligence services.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the Interfax agency on Monday evening: “We will also respond to this malicious act by the German political machine.” In such cases, Russia repeatedly reacts by expelling a similar number of diplomats.
Foreign Minister Baerbock condemns “incredible brutality of the Russian leadership”
Regarding atrocities in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, Baerbock said that these images “testify to the unbelievable brutality of the Russian leadership” and of those who followed their propaganda, “to a will to annihilate that transcends all borders”. Similar images are to be feared from many other places that Russian troops have occupied in Ukraine. “We must counter this inhumanity with the strength of our freedom and our humanity,” explained the minister. “But it must also be clear that we must stand up for our freedom and be prepared to defend it.”
After the Russian troops withdrew from the Kyiv suburb, hundreds of bodies were discovered in Bucha. Ukraine blames Russian troops, who until recently occupied the small town, for the massacre. Moscow denies that.
Baerbock emphasized that the federal government will initiate further reactions together with Germany’s partners. “We will further tighten the existing sanctions against Russia, we will resolutely increase our support for the Ukrainian armed forces and also strengthen NATO’s eastern flank.”
The federal government had recently repeatedly expelled Russian diplomats as a sanction. In December, as a consequence of a Berlin murder conviction against a Russian, she declared two employees of the Russian embassy to be “undesirable persons”. Last week, Belgium expelled 21 Russian diplomats on charges of espionage. The Dutch Foreign Minister had also announced that 17 Russian diplomats would be expelled on charges of espionage. The Czech Republic had also expelled a Russian diplomat from the country.