Ajit Karn
Moscow: Moscow said today that it would be expelling four Austrian diplomats in response to Vienna’s expulsion of four workers of Russia’s foreign missions in Austria. This comes at a time when tensions are rising over the war in Ukraine.
According to statements made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the expulsion of its ambassadors was a “unfriendly and unjustifiable measure” that “causes considerable harm to bilateral ties, which are already in crisis owing to the actions of the Austrian side.”
Since Russia began its military operation in Ukraine, Austria and many other EU governments have expelled scores of Russian diplomats, and Russia has responded in like by expelling diplomats from EU members.
The ministry said that it had summoned the Austrian ambassador to Moscow and told him that four workers of the Austrian embassy in Russia had been “designated persona non grata.”
They have been allowed permission to leave the country until the 23rd of February.
In the statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was said that “the attention of the ambassador was also directed to the developing problems with obtaining visas for official Russian delegations travelling to Vienna.”
Vienna announced earlier in February that it would be expelling four Russian diplomats, including two who were accredited with the United Nations in Vienna. The reason given for the expulsion was that the diplomats behaved “in a way incompatible with their diplomatic position.”
In reaction to the ruling, Austria said that it “does not come as a surprise.”
In a statement, the Russian government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, “We deplore this unreasonable decision by Russia, which has no factual foundation whatsoever.”
In politically neutral Austria, where ties with Russia were warm before Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine, diplomatic expulsions are very uncommon.
