Ukraine war: In tit-for-tat move, Russia expels Dutch, Belgian diplomats; action against Austria too

While Moscow, on Tuesday, declared as many as 15 Dutch diplomats as ‘persona non grata,' there is no information on the number of Belgian envoys who have been asked to leave. Four Austrian diplomats have also been expelled.

Russia announced on Tuesday it is expelling Dutch and Belgian diplomats from its territory, giving them a two-week deadline to leave. The move came as a retaliation against Belgium and the Netherlands, in a coordinated action late last month, expelling a total of 38 Russian diplomats over Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24.

File photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin. (AP)

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In a statement, Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs announced it has declared as many as 15 diplomats from the Netherlands as ‘persona non grata.’ The ministry, however, did not announce how many members of the Belgian embassy in Moscow were told to leave.

On March 29, Belgian foreign minister Sophie Wilmes announced that her country has asked 21 staff members of Russia’s embassy in Brussels and consulate in Antwerp to leave, while the Netherlands ordered 17 Russian diplomats to move out. At the time, responding to the joint move, Russia had warned it would respond by following the ‘principle of reciprocity.’

Meanwhile, the third country whose diplomats were on Tuesday asked to leave was Austria; the Kremlin’s decision came despite Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer, last week, meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, thus becoming the first European leader to meet Putin since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

Four Austrian envoys have been asked to move out by April 24.

Meanwhile, action is also expected against Germany and France, both of which sent back 40 Russian envoys each.

Several western countries, including European states, as well as the United States, have taken action against Russia for the war in Ukraine; these include sanctions and/or expulsion of Russian diplomats.

Though he is facing severe flak for launching the military offensive, President Putin has repeatedly justified it as a move needed to ‘de-nazify’ Ukraine.

(With AFP inputs)