“Moscow and Berlin engage in collective diplomatic expulsions”

Yesterday, Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced the expulsion of “more than 20” German diplomats from Russia, as a retaliation for a similar measure taken by Berlin, but Germany did not confirm it. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, “The German authorities have taken another collective expulsion of employees of Russian diplomatic missions in Germany,” strongly condemning Berlin’s actions, “which continue to destroy the entirety of Russian-German relations.”
And the Russian state information agency reported, without citing a source, that Germany would expel more than 20 Russian diplomats. An official at the German Foreign Ministry said that Berlin and Moscow had communicated about the size of their diplomatic representation over the past few weeks, adding that the arrival of a Russian government plane to Berlin is linked to this matter. The Russian Foreign Ministry statement said that Moscow notified the German ambassador in Moscow of these steps on the fifth of April.
The German Foreign Ministry said it had “taken note of Zakharova’s statements.” She added, “The federal government and the Russian side have been in contact in recent weeks regarding issues related to employees in their respective representations abroad,” without giving further details.
In a related context, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the formation of new military units, amid expectations that Kiev would launch a counterattack against Russian forces. “We are already preparing new battalions and units for deployment to the front,” Zelensky said. He added that his meetings with the General Staff were focused on providing all means to “liberate Ukraine from Russian occupation.” “Everyone in Ukraine must understand that the main task of the state is to end the occupation of our lands,” he said, stressing that “the front line is the highest priority.”
Moscow and Berlin exchange collective diplomatic expulsions