Navalny supporters protest against his sentence 2:23
(CNN) -
Russia has expelled three diplomats - from the embassies of Germany, Sweden and Poland - for participating in "illegal demonstrations," according to a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry released on Friday.
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The heads of the foreign missions were summoned to the Ministry on Friday where a protest was lodged regarding the 'registered participation of diplomatic officials from the consulates general of the Kingdom of Sweden and the Republic of Poland in Saint Petersburg and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Moscow 'in illegal demonstrations on January 23, 2021, when a large protest was held in Moscow in support of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny.
Russia called the alleged participation of diplomats in the Navalny protests "unacceptable" and said it does not correspond to their diplomatic status.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that "diplomats who participated in illegal actions were declared persona non grata and ordered to leave the territory of the country."
- With information from Mary Ilyushina in Moscow and CNN's Jonny Hallam.