PARIS, April 16. /TASS/. The Russian diplomats declared personae non-gratae in France have left the country aboard the plane that arrived from Russia, the Russian embassy in Paris told TASS on Saturday.
"By agreement with French counterparts, a flight was organized to fly [home] the embassy employees declared personae non-gratae. The plane has taken off," the spokesperson said adding that the plane had arrived from Russia.
The Agence France-Presse reported that about 140 people, including diplomats and their families, were on board the Russian plane that left France. Despite the EU ban on flights by Russian aircraft, in this case a diplomatic agreement was reached with Paris.
On April 4 and 11 the French Foreign Ministry declared a total of 41 Russian diplomats, who were working in the country, personae non-gratae, claiming that they had allegedly been involved in the activities "running counter to national security interests" of France. Russia’s Ambassador Alexey Meshkov protested to the French Foreign Ministry, dubbing Paris’ decision as an unfriendly step.