Denmark reduced the number of Russian diplomats in Copenhagen to five

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark will send Russian diplomats and consular employees out of the country. The agency officially announced this on September 1. Only five diplomats and 20 technical employees of the Russian Embassy will be able to stay in Copenhagen.

The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the measures taken in response to the same reduction of Denmark’s diplomatic corps in Russia. The department emphasized that it had been negotiating with Moscow for a long time about how to preserve the work of the embassies on both sides, but did not achieve any results. Russian diplomats will have to stop work and leave Copenhagen no later than September 29.

In addition, the Danish Foreign Ministry mentioned that during the negotiations, Moscow repeatedly asked to request visas for Russians, whom Copenhagen considers to be agents of the Russian special services under diplomatic cover.

• After the start of Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, many European countries are reducing their diplomatic presence in Russia. Moscow, for its part, is also cutting the staff of Western embassies and consulates. In August of this year, Iceland became the first European country to completely freeze the work of its embassy in Russia. In addition, recently there have been regular reports of the detention of citizens in Western countries on charges of espionage for Russia.