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Greece declares 12 Russian diplomats personae non gratae

Russia to undertake response measures to this decision

ATHENS, April 6. /TASS/. Greece declared 12 employees of Russian diplomatic missions accredited in the republic personae non gratae, according to the Greek Foreign Ministry’s statement made public on Wednesday.

"Greece’s authorities declared personae non gratae 12 employees of the diplomatic and consular offices of the Russian Federation accredited in Greece," the statement noted.

It was noted that these employees were "declared as unwanted in accordance with the provisions of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations." The ministry stressed that the Russian Ambassador to Greece was informed about this decision.

Moscow will undertake response measures to this decision, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova told TASS. "Russia will give a corresponding answer," the diplomat said in response to a question on the matter.

Since the beginning of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine on February 24, Western countries declared more than 300 Russian diplomats personae non gratae. The countries that expelled the most diplomats include Poland (45), Germany (40), Slovakia (35), France (35) and Italy (30). The US expelled the Russian Embassy’s Minister Counselor as well as declared personae non gratae 12 employees of the Russian mission at the UN.

On Wednesday, Zakharova in an interview with the Sputnik radio station said that in recent decades, Western countries have begun using the declaration of Russian diplomats as personae non gratae as an information and political attack. According to her, the West "has to show some sort of piling up of its actions." Additionally, she noted that the expulsion of Russian diplomats has always been carried out publicly, while Western countries went as far as to begin making public the names of the diplomats and provide their personal data. According to the diplomat, all of this was done "in order to create a sense of guilt on the Russian side for something that no one had done, at least under those excuses under which the Russian diplomats were expelled.".

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