Russia announced on Wednesday (18) the expulsion of 85 French, Spanish and Italian diplomats from the country, in yet another sign of worsening friction between the Kremlin and Western powers.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, both Moscow and the West have resorted to a practice that, in diplomatic parlance, represents great dissatisfaction on the part of the host country against the represented country. The classification of persona non grata given to a diplomat or an official of a diplomatic post represents, in practice, the determination for him to leave the country.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that 34 diplomats from France, 27 from Spain and 24 from Italy must leave Moscow. In the first case, according to the French ambassador, they have up to two weeks to leave Russia. The Spaniards will have even less time to pack their bags: a deadline of seven days has been set for them to return to Madrid.
Details and deadlines for the Italians’ departure were not disclosed. Rome and Moscow, at least since Vladimir Putin’s entry into power, have maintained important economic and political ties, mainly due to the close relationship between the Russian president and former Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi.
Italy reacted to Wednesday’s expulsions, with Prime Minister Mario Draghi calling the move “a hostile act” and warning diplomatic channels with Moscow must not be interrupted. The French Foreign Ministry released a statement condemning the decision “firmly” and saying that the measure has “no legitimate grounds”.
The three European nations that Moscow targets, on the other hand, are among those that have expelled more than 300 Russians since the invasion began. In many cases, they accused Russian diplomats and officials of spying, which the Kremlin denies.
Spain, for example, expelled 25 Russians from the country last month, citing “duly justified security reasons”. “[Esse] is not the case now,” the Spanish Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
Also in April, Russia sent home 45 Polish and 40 German officials. Similar measures have been adopted by and against countries such as Finland, Romania, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Japan and the USA.
In Moscow, the Swedish ambassador was summoned by Russian diplomacy to provide clarification – another common practice in international relations in case of dissatisfaction, but maximized since the beginning of the conflict.
The move comes on the same day that the Nordic country, along with Finland, submitted the formal application for admission to NATO, the US-led military alliance. In order to be accepted, however, the two will need to convince Turkey, which has been putting obstacles in the way of approval.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated on Wednesday that he intends to veto Sweden and Finland’s entry into NATO if their respective governments do not deport Turkish citizens who Ankara considers terrorists – some are Erdogan’s opponents.
In Kiev, the US reopened its embassy after three months of closure, a symbolic act that reaffirms Washington’s rapprochement with Volodymyr Zelensky’s country.
In addition to the diplomatic crisis, the conflict on the battlefront reaches its 84th day with the conquests of Moscow and Kiev still uncertain amid dispersed information on both sides.
As Ukrainian forces continue to hold back Russian advances in the Kharkiv region and the army announced an estimate that more than 28,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in nearly three months of war, the Kremlin consolidated its takeover of Mariupol. According to Moscow, 959 Ukrainian servicemen who were entrenched at the Azovstal steelworks have surrendered since Monday.
The fate of these prisoners is uncertain, and those who belong to the Azov Battalion could even be sentenced to death, as a Russian lawmaker defended this week. On the other hand, high-ranking commanders of Ukrainian forces may still be hiding in the city, according to a leader in the breakaway region of Donetsk. The information could not be independently confirmed.
On Wednesday, Kiev also began its first war crimes trial since the invasion began. Russian Petty Officer Vadim Chichimarin, 21, pleaded guilty to all charges, including the premeditated murder of a Ukrainian civilian in late February.
The case could set precedents for the conviction of other Russian prisoners in Ukraine amid a string of atrocities allegations by Moscow forces, including the Butcha massacre and repeated attacks on Ukrainian hospitals.
