A Russian special flight caused guesswork this Saturday.
Apparently diplomats were on board.
Russia speaks of "mass expulsion" and announces revenge.
Moscow – It was a flight that caused a stir: on Saturday morning (April 22), a Russian government plane flew from Moscow to Berlin and back with special permission.
An absolute rarity, because the EU has blocked the airspace for all Russian airlines for over a year - as a reaction to the Ukraine war.
No wonder that the Ilyushin Il 96-300 machine aroused great interest on Saturday and was the subject of lively discussion on social media.
The Foreign Office has now provided an explanation for this.
Apparently, employees of Russian embassies in Germany were in the plane that was being brought from Berlin to Russia.
"In fact, the federal government has been in talks with the Russian side in recent weeks about the presence at the respective foreign missions, with the aim of reducing the Russian intelligence presence in Germany," says a statement to RTL / ntv.
The special flight is related to this.
The aircraft had a so-called diplomatic clearance, said a spokesman for the Air Force at the request of the German Press Agency.
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The Flightradar24 screenshot shows the route of an Ilyushin Il 96-300 from Berlin to Moscow.
© Flightradar24/dpa
Russia wants to expel 20 German diplomats - as a retaliatory action
Russia reacted to the action with anger and in return wants to expel more than 20 German diplomats.
This was announced by the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.
The expulsion of German diplomats was a retaliatory measure for the "mass expulsion of employees of the Russian diplomatic missions in Germany".
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's spokeswoman denounced this as new "hostile actions" by Germany against Russia.
The Foreign Office rejected the allegations.
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An Ilyushin Il 96-300 passenger plane flying from Berlin to Moscow caused a stir on Saturday (April 22).
Apparently Russian diplomats were sitting in it.
© Erik Romanenko/Imago
Expulsion of diplomats: Russia accuses Germany of indiscretion
Lavrov spokeswoman Zakharova also accused the German government of having pushed through the expulsion of the diplomats to the media in advance, although there had been assurances that the matter would be treated discreetly.
She did not say what and to which medium she was referring specifically, but stormed: "We strongly condemn this action by Berlin, which continues to demonstratively destroy the entire range of Russian-German relations, including their diplomatic dimension."
As a retaliatory measure, Zakharova announced that there would be a “significant limitation on the maximum number of employees at German diplomatic missions” in Russia.
The German Ambassador Géza Andreas von Geyr in Moscow was informed about this earlier this month.
Putin's circle of power in the Kremlin - the confidants of the Russian President
Putin's circle of power in the Kremlin - the confidants of the Russian President
Hundreds of diplomats have been expelled since the start of the Ukraine war
Immediately after the start of the Ukraine war, Berlin and Moscow had mutually expelled hundreds of diplomats.
France, Italy, Spain and other countries have also declared Russian embassy staff to be undesirables.
In some cases, this was explicitly justified with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in other cases it was about allegations of espionage.
For its part, Russia reacted by expelling numerous Western diplomats.
(smu/dpa/AFP)
List of rubrics: © Erik Romanenko/Imago
