The three EU countries announced the tit-for-tat moves in coordinated statements, drawing an angry response from Russia which accused them of meddling in its internal affairs.
The diplomatic spat comes at a time of heightened tensions between the European Union and Russia, exacerbated by the arrest and jailing of leading opposition figure Navalny.
Russia humiliated the European Union on Friday by announcing the expulsions during a rare meeting in Moscow between EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
European governments strongly condemned the shock expulsions, with Berlin warning that it would respond in kind.
Moscow’s decision to expel the three diplomats “was in no way justified”, the German foreign ministry said Monday, adding that the German staff member had been doing his job of “observing developments in Russia by lawful means”.
Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said Stockholm had “informed the Russian ambassador that a person from the Russian embassy is asked to leave Sweden”.
“This is a clear response to the unacceptable decision to expel a Swedish diplomat who was only performing his duties,” she wrote on Twitter.
The Polish foreign ministry likewise condemned the “groundless expulsion” of a Polish diplomat from Saint Petersburg and said it had declared “persona non grata” a Russian consular official in Poznan, western Poland.
The Russian foreign ministry immediately hit back.
“Today’s decisions by Poland, Germany and Sweden are unfounded, unfriendly and are a continuation of the very series of actions that the West is taking with regard to our country and which we qualify as interference in our internal affairs,” spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on state channel Rossiya 1.
Source : France 24 News
