As a result, the German diplomatic mission will lose around a third of its members in Russia. The ambassador, Géza Andreas von Geyr, had previously been summoned, where he was presented with the list of undesirable diplomats and a protest note from the Kremlin. The declaration of a “persona non grata” also applies to the families of the German embassy employees.
Four employees of the Austrian embassy were already expelled a week ago. “We regret this unjustified decision by Russia, which has no factual basis whatsoever. The affected employees of the Austrian Embassy perform their functions exclusively within the framework of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” the Foreign Ministry in Vienna commented on the incident.
A total of 400 foreign government officials have left the country since the beginning of the war.
