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Russia expels three employees of Slovak embassy in Moscow in tit-for-tat move

The diplomats must leave the country within 72 hours

MOSCOW, March 28./TASS/. In retaliation to the expulsion of three employees of the Russian Embassy in Slovakia, Russia has decided to declare three diplomats of the Slovak Embassy in Russia personae non gratae, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a release on Monday.

"Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to the Russian Federation Lubomir Rehak was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on March 28. He was told that the Russian side had decided to declare three diplomats from the Slovak Embassy in Moscow personae non gratae in retaliation to the expulsion of three employees of the Russian Embassy to Slovakia in March," the ministry said.

The diplomats must leave the country within 72 hours, it added. The Foreign Ministry lodged a stern protest to Slovak Ambassador Lubomir Rehak regarding obstacles to the work of Russian foreign institutions in Slovakia and threats to their operation.

"A protest has been voiced to the head of the Slovak diplomatic mission with respect to the obstacles impeding the work of Russian foreign institutions in Slovakia and threats to their safe operation," the ministry noted.

"The ambassador has been sternly informed of the inadmissibility of the recent frequent cases of vandalism against memorials and graves of Soviet soldiers in Slovakia," the ministry stressed.

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