Expulsion of diplomats: new traditions or temporary measures

Kremlin relations

Russian diplomats have been expelled en masse since February 24, 2022, since the start of the special operation in Ukraine. It all started with the US State Department’s announcement of the expulsion of Russian Envoy Advisor Sergei Trepelkov. The beginning is not as massive as the end, as some 382 diplomats have been expelled from countries. The reasons are similar: allegations of investigative activities, actions contrary to the Geneva Convention on Diplomatic Relations, undermining security and so on. 382 is an impressive number, most of them being expelled diplomats from countries such as: Germany 40, France 35, Slovenia 33, Italy 30, Spain 25 and the Netherlands 15. The EU does not stand by and announces that 19 staff members who permanently represent Russia in the EU are persona non grata as of 5 April.

Source: Svoboda.org

The situation cannot be ignored in this case, as it directly undermines friendly relations between the countries, all the more so with such harsh accusations. Russia is responding by expelling diplomats from Moscow, and the services have promised to act “symmetrically”. It is worth noting that Polish accounts have been frozen, visas have been stopped for members of official delegations and journalists from countries that are up against Russia, agreements on issuing multiple-entry visas have also been suspended.

A dissonant situation which has raised many questions from representatives of all states. The UN Security Council met to discuss the situation in Bucha. Vladimir Zelenski put forward the idea of reforming this body, that is, to put it bluntly, to remove Russia from its membership, because the UN is not doing a good job, because there is no provision for peace.

Also, Zelensky said that there is not a single crime that has not been committed by the Russian military on the territory of Bucha. Ukraine will conduct an independent investigation, which they say will identify those responsible. India and China demanded a separate international investigation into the killings.

Now let’s look at the situation in more detail. How did it all start? It all started when the Ukrainian authorities and journalists distributed footage of mass graves in the towns of Bucha and Irpen. The Russian Defence Ministry called the footage a provocation and said that not a single person had been injured during the occupation of the towns by the Russian military. But Ukraine said some 410 bodies had been removed from there. The situation is vague, Peskov said the factology and calendar sequence do not speak in favour of the veracity of the Ukrainian side’s claims. Joe Biden expressed his position as well. He said it was a war crime and called Putin a “war criminal”. He even promised to strengthen sanctions against Russia. Macron, too, supported tougher sanctions and called the footage “intolerable”. Boris Johnson only promised humanitarian aid. And Charles Michel, head of the European Council, reminded us again of the new batch of strengthened sanctions and did not miss a moment to say that the perpetrators will be sorry.

Source: espd.ru

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has described the footage from Bucha as staged by the Ukrainian media and their Western patrons. Lavrov said that Russia was ready to show real footage of the situation at a conference in New York.

“Today we are organising a press conference in New York through our post office, where detailed materials will be presented that show the true nature of the events that our Western colleagues are now trying to present as evidence of a Russian war crime”, – Lavrov said. The topic of unsubstantiated accusations was also touched upon, as Russian experts look for supporting factors.

Source: mirror of the week
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