Russia announced Thursday, May 18 the expulsion of five Portuguese diplomats in retaliation for that of ten Russians decided in the wake of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, the day after similar announcements concerning dozens of French, Italian and Spanish diplomats.
Read alsoWar in Ukraine: Russia announces the expulsion of 34 French diplomats
The Portuguese ambassador to Russia was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday, which "
strongly protested against the provocative decision of the Portuguese authorities to declare 'personae non gratae' ten collaborators of the foreign mission in Portugal
", indicated the Russian diplomacy in a statement.
"
In response, five employees of the Portuguese embassy in Russia are declared 'personae non gratae'
", she adds, specifying that they had 14 days to leave the country.
“Full compliance with the Vienna Convention”
"
The Portuguese government protests against this decision by the Russian authorities, which has no other justification than simple reprisals
", reacted the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release.
"
Unlike the Russian diplomats expelled from Portugal, the Portuguese diplomats carried out strictly diplomatic activities in full compliance with the Vienna Convention
," he said.
Read alsoUkraine: Russia expels ten Romanian diplomats
On Wednesday, Moscow had already announced the expulsion of 34 French diplomats, 27 Spanish diplomats and 24 Italian diplomats, in response to similar measures in these countries, decided after the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine on February 24.
Many other European countries, such as Germany, Slovenia, Austria, Poland, Greece or Croatia, have massively expelled Russian diplomats.
In some cases, these expulsions have been accompanied by accusations of espionage.
Moscow has promised to respond to each of these measures and dozens of Western diplomats have already been expelled from Russia.
