After the verdict in the zoo murder trial, Russia declared two German diplomats to be “undesirable persons”. This was announced by the Foreign Ministry on Monday in Moscow after a conversation with Ambassador Géza Andreas von Geyr. The move is in response to the deportation of two Russian embassy employees in Berlin. The RIA news agency reported on Monday that the German ambassador had also been called in.
Federal Foreign Office: expulsion unfounded
The Foreign Office in Berlin has described the expulsion of two German diplomats by Russia as a renewed burden on German-Russian relations. “This step does not come as a surprise, but from the point of view of the federal government it is completely unfounded,” said a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry on Monday in Berlin. The Federal Government is striving for an exchange with Russia on the basis of international law and mutual respect.
Verdict for murder in the Tiergarten
Because of the shooting of a Georgian in August 2019 in the Kleiner Tiergarten park, the Berlin Court of Appeal had sentenced a Russian to life imprisonment last Wednesday. The verdict speaks of “state terrorism”: The judges are convinced that the now 56-year-old acted on behalf of Russian state agencies. Russia rejects such allegations.
Two Russian diplomats expelled
As a consequence, the German government declared two employees of the Russian embassy in Berlin to be “undesirable persons”. This was tantamount to expulsion. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) spoke of a “serious violation of German law and the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Germany”. The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Sakharova, then spoke of “unfriendly actions by Berlin” that could not go unanswered.
German-Russian relationship strained
German-Russian relations have deteriorated steadily since Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014. The biggest cyberattack to date on the Bundestag in 2015, for which Russian hackers are held responsible, the poisoning of the Kremlin critic Alexej Navalny and, most recently, the Russian troop deployment on the border with Ukraine, all contributed to this.
–
