MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. Russia has expressed a strong protest to Ukraine over the expulsion of a senior diplomat from the Russian Embassy in Kiev, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on Tuesday.

"The Russian Foreign Ministry expresses a strong protest over another unfriendly step of Ukraine. The accusations against the Russian diplomat are unfounded and groundless. He did not commit any acts outside of his diplomatic functions," the document says.

The ministry stressed that Kiev had attempted to present the written note about declaring a Russian embassy counsellor persona non grata as a tit-for-tat response to Russia’s verbal announcement stating that the presence of the Ukrainian Consul General in St. Petersburg on Russian territory is undesirable.

"The Russian Foreign Ministry cannot consider the expulsion of a Russian diplomat from Ukraine as a symmetrical measure and retains the right for response measures against one of the diplomats of the Ukrainian Embassy in Moscow," the statement says.

Besides, the Russian diplomatic agency pointed out that the Ukrainian consul was recommended to leave Russia after he was caught red-handed when trying to purchase closed databases of Russian law enforcement. "Kiev officials need these materials to gear up for political repressions against their own compatriots with dual Russian-Ukrainian citizenship or with property and relatives in our country. A significant part of the Ukrainian population falls into this category. Thus, the consul who is leaving Russia, who was supposed to protect Ukrainian citizens, was acting against their interests instead," the statement reads.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry informed on Saturday that it is expelling a senior diplomat of the Russian Embassy in Kiev. On Sunday, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Yenin said on the Ukraine-24 TV channel that the diplomat’s surname is Chernikov.

This was Kiev’s reciprocal step in response to Russia’s expulsion of Ukrainian consul in St. Petersburg Alexander Sosonyuk. According to the Foreign Ministry, the consul was booted over obtaining classified information from law enforcement and the Federal Security Service’s databases. On April 17, Russia pointed out that such activity is incompatible with the status of a consulate employee, as it harms the security interests of the Russian Federation, and is unacceptable. In this regard, Ukrainian Charge D’Affaires Vasiliy Pokotilo was informed that Sosonyuk was declared persona non grata and that the consul was recommended to leave the country within 72 hours starting on April 19.