The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany announced the departure of a group of German diplomats from Russia

On May 1, a group of German diplomats left Russia. This was reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany, without specifying the number of diplomats who left. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced a week ago that Moscow is preparing to expel more than twenty employees of the German Embassy in response to the expulsion of Russian diplomats.

“In recent weeks, the German government has been in contact with the Russian side in order to reduce the presence of Russian special services in Germany,” the German Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

The statement emphasizes that the activities of the employees of the Russian diplomatic mission “did not correspond to their diplomatic status”, and unlike the Russians, their German colleagues constantly behaved in accordance with their diplomatic status.

More than a week ago, there were reports of the expulsion of German diplomats from Russia – it was claimed that they arrived in Berlin from Moscow on a plane that received emergency permission to land at a European airport. A representative of the German Foreign Ministry told Radio Liberty that about two dozen employees of the Russian diplomatic missions were sent on this board from the German capital.

• In March, the edition of Focus wrote that Germany is considering the possibility of expelling more than 30 Russian diplomats from the country. According to the media, the German security authorities have come to the conclusion that representatives of Russia can use their diplomatic immunity to recruit informants for the purpose of sabotage or spreading disinformation.
• In April 2022, Germany declared 40 Russian diplomats persona non grata, in response Russia expelled 40 German diplomats.