BUCHAREST, June 30. /TASS/. Employees of the Russian embassy in Bucharest and members of their families will leave Romania in accordance with the Romanian government’s request that Russia reduce its diplomatic presence in the country, the Romanian foreign ministry said on Friday.

"The foreign ministry informs that 40 employees of the Russian diplomatic mission in Bucharest and their family members will leave Romania on board a passenger plane of a Russian airline," it said, adding that Romania’s decision to "reduce the staff of the Russian diplomatic mission in Bucharest reflects the current level of bilateral relations" in the context of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the Russian embassy told TASS that Russian diplomats and their family members, some 80 people in all, will leave at about 1:00 p.m. local time on Saturday by a special humanitarian flight organized by the Rossiya air company.

A number of embassy employees already left Romania earlier. The overall number of Russians who have been forced to leave the country is nearly 140.

The Romanian foreign ministry said on June 8 that Russia must reduce the staff of its embassy by more than 50 people within 30 days. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova slammed this decision as a hostile move leading to a further degradation of relations and warned that Russia’s response would follow.