Russian diplomacy: Putin wants to introduce list of "unfriendly foreign states"

Enlarge image

Vladimir Putin wants to make the work of diplomatic missions from "unfriendly foreign states" more difficult

Photo: Alexei Druzhinin / AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to have a list of "unfriendly foreign states" drawn up.

Restrictions are planned for their diplomatic missions, according to a message published by the Kremlin on Friday evening.

The hiring of employees for the respective diplomatic missions and other state institutions in Russia is to be limited.

"If necessary," it should also be possible to impose a complete ban on hiring.

Putin tasked the Russian government with drawing up a list of the foreign states to which these restrictions should apply.

In addition, the number of employees should be determined with whom the diplomatic missions concerned may still conclude employment contracts.

The restrictions therefore apply exclusively to potential employees who are in Russia - not to those who have come from the respective countries to work in the diplomatic missions abroad.

The Russian Foreign Ministry had already imposed such punitive measures against the representations of the USA and the Czech Republic - in the course of the mutual expulsion of diplomats.

The background to the conflict with the Czech Republic are explosions in an ammunition dump in Vrbětice in the east of the Czech Republic in 2014, for which Prague most recently blamed Russian secret services.

In response, the Czech Republic expelled 18 Russian diplomats from the country last week.

Moscow countered - and expelled 20 Czech diplomats.

On Thursday, NATO promised the Czech Republic its support in the dispute with Russia.

Ministry spokeswoman Maria Sakharova justified the list Putin wanted with a possible recruitment of Russian citizens by the Western embassies to work for the secret services of other countries.

For many Russians, working in western embassies is attractive because they often earn significantly more money there than on the Russian labor market.

svs / dpa