26 April 2021, Monday, 18:41 147

Russia Decides To Expel Employee Of Ukrainian Embassy In Response To Expulsion Of Employee Of Its Embassy Due To Detention Of Ukrainian Consul

Редактор: Daria Zubkova

Russia offered an employee of the Ukrainian embassy to leave the country before April 30 in response to the order of the Ukrainian side to the Russian diplomat to leave the country, which was given as a reaction to the detention and expulsion from the Russian Federation of the Ukrainian consul.

Ukrainian News Agency learned this from a statement of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"In connection with the unfriendly actions of the Ukrainian side, which on April 19 declared a persona non grata of an employee of the Russian Embassy in Kyiv, and on the basis of the principle of reciprocity for activities incompatible with diplomatic status, an employee of the Ukrainian Embassy in Russia was declared persona non grata. He was offered to leave the territory of the Russian Federation by the end of the day of April 30," the statement reads.

The corresponding note was sent on Monday to the Ukrainian Embassy in Moscow.

Russia also warned the Ukrainian side that "in the case of continuing hostile actions against employees of Russian diplomatic and consular missions," it will further take additional measures against the personnel of Ukrainian embassies, consulates general and consulates in the Russian Federation.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on April 17, officers of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation detained in St. Petersburg the Ukrainian consul Oleksandr Sosoniuk "upon receiving information of a classified nature contained in the databases of law enforcement agencies, which is incompatible with the status of a diplomatic worker and has a hostile nature towards the Russian Federation."

The Russian Foreign Ministry recommended him to leave the country before April 22.

In response, Ukraine ordered the senior diplomat of the Russian embassy in Kyiv to leave the country by April 21.

Ukraine dismissed its ambassador to Russia Volodymyr Yelchenko in December 2015, and Russia dismissed its ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov in July 2016.

In February 2020, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Ukraine can return its ambassador to Moscow, and Russia is also not opposed to returning its ambassador to Kyiv.

In response, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry assured that Kyiv does not plan to appoint an ambassador to Russia in the near future.