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Greece limiting contacts with Russian Embassy

The consular staff was also affected after a mass expulsion of Russian diplomats on April 12, Russian Ambassador to Athens Andrey Maslov noted

MOSCOW, June 27. /TASS/. Greek authorities have frozen contacts with the Russian Embassy and the Consulate General in the Balkan nation, Russian Ambassador to Athens Andrey Maslov told the Rossiya-24 TV channel on Monday.

According to him, Russia’s diplomatic missions in Greece are ready to help Russian nationals if necessary, but right now the possibilities are limited. "The Greek authorities have stopped any contacts with both the Embassy and the Consulate General, and the consular staff was also affected after a mass expulsion of Russian diplomats on April 12," Maslov stressed.

On April 6, twelve employees of the Russian Embassy in Athens and the Consulate General in Thessaloniki were declared personae non gratae. A statement by the Greek Foreign Ministry said that they were "declared unwanted in accordance with the provisions of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations".

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stressed in a commentary that the expulsion of the diplomats was an unprecedented move in bilateral relations, which were being sacrificed on the altar of "trans-Atlantic solidarity".

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