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Russia expels three Slovak diplomats in retaliatory move

Earlier, the Slovak Foreign Ministry said three Russian diplomats, suspected of spying, were to leave the country

Russian Foreign Ministry Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS

Russian Foreign Ministry

© Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS

MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/. The ambassador of the Slovak Republic Peter Priputen on Monday was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry to be told that three staffers of the Slovak embassy must leave Russia.

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Slovakia expels three Russian diplomats

"On August 31, the ambassador of the Slovak Republic to Russia was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry. A resolute protest was expressed to him over the groundless expulsion of three staffers of the Russian embassy in Slovakia in August," the Foreign Ministry said. "We regard this unfriendly step by Bratislava as running counter to the traditional spirit of constructive relations between our countries."

"The ambassador was told that Russia on a basis of reciprocity has made a decision to expel three staffers of the Slovak embassy in Moscow," the Foreign Ministry said.

On August 10, the Slovak Foreign Ministry said three Russian diplomats, suspected of spying, were to leave the country. Prime Minister Igor Matovic said the decision was related with last year’s killing of Georgian citizen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin.

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