The response was expected. It only took a little longer than usual, perhaps a sign of a certain overwork of Russian diplomacy in the context of the “special operation” conducted in Ukraine. On Wednesday May 18, Moscow announced the expulsion of dozens of European diplomats stationed in Russiain retaliation to that, a month and a half earlier, of Russian diplomats by European capitals.
Summoned one after the other to Smolensk Square, headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Moscow, the French, Spanish and Italian ambassadors were notified of these expulsions: 34 for France, 27 for Spain, 24 for Italy . Each time, these figures are slightly lower than those of the Russians expelled at the beginning of April. At the time, as part of a “European approach”Paris had demanded the departure of 41 Russian diplomats accused of engaging in espionage activities.
On Wednesday, the Quai d’Orsay protested against the expulsion “without any legitimate basis” of his own diplomats, pointing out the difference in motivation between these measures: “The work of the diplomats and staff of our embassy in Russia is, conversely, fully within the framework of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic and Consular Relations”, underlines the French diplomacy. Rome also mentioned, through the President of the Council, Mario Draghi, “a hostile act”. A formula that French leaders have been careful not to use.
For its part, Moscow denounced “the provocative and unfounded decision of the French authorities” to expel the Russian diplomats, warning that this decision carried “serious damage to Russian-French relations, as well as to constructive bilateral cooperation”.
The most affected economic service
Many other European countries, such as Germany, Slovenia, Austria, Poland, Greece or Croatia, have massively expelled Russian diplomats since the start of the offensive in Ukraine on February 24 – accompanied expulsions , in some cases, charges of espionage.
In total, these concerted decisions within the European Union and with Washington concerned more than 300 people. Moscow had promised to respond to each of these measures and dozens of Western diplomats have already been expelled from Russia.
The work of the French embassy in Moscow is likely to be affected, although diplomats stress that they had had time to prepare for this decision. The measure notified to Ambassador Pierre Lévy concerns about a third of the diplomatic staff stationed in Moscow. The persons concerned have fifteen days to leave Russia. A second wave could occur a little later.
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