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Japan to expel eight Russian diplomats and trade mission staff — Foreign Ministry

The ministry’s representative did not say when the decision would be executed or any other details

TOKYO, April 8. /TASS/. The Japanese authorities have decided to expel eight Russian diplomats and staff members of the trade mission in Tokyo in connection with the situation around Ukraine and the Russian military operation currently underway, a Japanese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said at a press conference on Friday.

"We have decided to expel eight employees of the Russian embassy and trade mission in Tokyo from Japan," she said. According to her, Japanese First Deputy Foreign Minister Takeo Mori notified Russian Ambassador to Tokyo Mikhail Galuzin of this during a meeting on Friday. The ministry’s representative did not say when the decision would be executed or any other details.

Moscow will respond to Tokyo's decision to expel eight Russian diplomats from Japan, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS.

"Russia will give an appropriate response," the diplomat said.

Japan has so far recognized only three diplomats as personae non gratae. In 1973, a South Korean diplomat who was involved in the kidnapping of opposition politician Kim Dae-jung, who later became president, was expelled from the country. In 2006, an employee of the Ivorian Embassy was expelled for organizing an underground casino with the Yakuza mafia. Japan also declared the Syrian ambassador persona non grata in 2012.

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