Austria has declared personae non gratae four Russian diplomats, the foreign ministry announced on Thursday. Many other nations made similar moves this week, expelling dozens of Russian envoys.
Three employees of the Russian embassy in Vienna and one from the consulate in Salzburg were instructed to leave Austria by the end of next Tuesday, a statement said. The move was allegedly justified by the Russians’ alleged activities that “have not been in accordance with their diplomatic status.”
Moscow said it will respond to the expulsions “correspondingly”.
Earlier in the week, many European nations sent home dozens of Russian diplomats. Some explicitly tied their decisions with Kiev’s allegations that Russian troops were engaged in war crimes in Ukraine. Others cited national security concerns or made non-specific accusations of breaking diplomatic protocol, like Austria did.