Five more European countries announced on Tuesday (5) the expulsion of diplomats from Russia in retaliation against the war in Ukraine.
The movement gained particular strength after the discovery of a series of civilian bodies in Butcha, outside Kiev, dumped in the streets and in mass graves, which led to accusations against the Russians of war crimes and calls for an investigation.
The Ukrainian government claims that between 150 and 300 bodies were found in just one mass grave next to a church. Russia denies attacking civilians and calls the footage a farce and a provocation from Kiev.
In retaliation, on Tuesday, Italy, Spain, Denmark and Sweden announced the expulsion of dozens of diplomats. “The measure is in agreement with other European and Atlantic partners and is necessary for reasons linked to our national security,” Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said of the determination that reached 30 Russian diplomats.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said the country would dispatch 25 Russians who, in his words, “pose a threat to Spain’s interests and security”.
In Denmark, 15 diplomats were sent back to Moscow. Chancellor Jeppe Kofod called the events in Butcha “another example of brutality, cruelty and war crimes” and justified the expulsion as “a clear signal to Russia that spying on Danish soil is unacceptable”.
In Sweden, espionage was also the alleged reason for the expulsion of three Russian diplomats. According to Chancellor Ann Linde, the targets of the measure “were not following the Vienna Convention and were conducting illegal intelligence operations”. Slovenia, in turn, announced the expulsion of 33 diplomats from Moscow.
On Monday (4), Germany and France announced similar measures. The exact number of diplomats affected was not disclosed, but according to the AFP news agency, there were 40 from Berlin and 35 from Paris.
Moscow reacted to the announcements. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the decisions as regrettable, signs of “myopia” by European countries, and said they would inevitably lead to reciprocal responses from Moscow.
The Kremlin denies attacking civilians in Butcha. On Tuesday, Peskov said the images of the bodies were “a hoax that seeks to defame the Russian army and will not work”. He called on the international community to “let go of emotional perceptions and think with your head”. “Compare the facts and understand the monstrous farce you are dealing with,” he said.
Satellite images published on Monday by the American newspaper The New York Times showed that civilian bodies were already on the streets of Butcha during the Russian occupation, contrary to what Moscow argues, that its troops would have left the city on March 30 and that the corpses were placed there to incriminate the country.
In Brazil, in a hearing at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this Tuesday, the Russian ambassador, Alexei Kazimirovitch, questioned the images. “Personally, I don’t have any confidence in the photos distributed yesterday and today, because the fact is that Russian troops left this city on the 30th, the day after the Istanbul talks,” he said. “I don’t trust the New York Times,” he added.
This Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded, in a speech to the UN Security Council, attitudes to punish Russia for what he calls war crimes.
“We are dealing with a State that has transformed its [poder de] veto in the UN Security Council on the right to death”, said Zelensky. As a permanent member of the entity, Russia has the right to veto resolutions of the body, along with China, France, the United States and the United Kingdom. “Russia wants to turn Ukrainians into silent slaves,” the president said.
Russian UN Ambassador Vassili Nebenzia reacted, asserting that the country is not attacking civilians and calling the accusations liars.
At the council, the ambassador from China, Russia’s strategic partner, said the images were “very disturbing”, but added that the circumstances of the deaths must be verified and that any accusation must be based on facts.
In reaction to images of the Butcha massacre, the United States and allied countries must expand economic sanctions against Russia.
The European Union’s proposal is to bar trade in a series of products, including semiconductors and computers, which would amount to 9 billion euros in imports and 10 billion euros in exports.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the bloc is working to also ban the import of Russian fuel. “We have all seen the horrific images of Bucha and other regions from which Russian troops have recently left. These atrocities cannot and will not go unanswered,” she wrote on Twitter.
Banning the import of Russian coal would have an impact of 4 billion euros on Russian imports, she said. The figure, however, is insignificant compared to the 100 billion spent in 2021 on fuel and natural gas from Russia – a third of the natural gas used by Europe comes from the Russians.
