Berlin confirms expulsion of Russian spy agents, Russia expels dozens of German diplomats
The government in Berlin confirmed Saturday afternoon that it has asked Russia to reduce the number of spy agents believed to be on German territory, amid the Moscow administration's announcement of the expulsion of dozens of German diplomats as a retaliatory measure, Mediafax reports.
The Foreign Ministry in Berlin announced on Saturday afternoon that it was aware of Russia's decision to expel German diplomats. "The German government and the Russian side have been in contact in recent weeks about staff in diplomatic representations with the aim of reducing the presence of Russian intelligence services on German territory. The expulsions announced today by the Russian authorities are related to this," the Berlin Foreign Ministry said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry had previously announced the expulsion of "more than 20 German diplomats" in response to a similar German action, according to Le Monde.
"The German authorities have decided on a new mass expulsion of members of Russian diplomatic missions in Germany. We vehemently condemn Berlin's actions, which continue to completely destroy relations between Russia and Germany," Moscow Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zaharova was quoted as saying by Tass news agency on Saturday. "In reaction to Berlin's hostile actions, the Russian side has decided to take a symmetrical action and will expel German diplomats from Russia and significantly limit the maximum number of employees of German diplomatic representations in our country," Maria Zaharova said.
It is unclear whether the Russian diplomats Moscow is referring to have already been expelled from Germany or are to be expelled, Süddeutsche Zeitung notes. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the German ambassador, Geza Andreas von Geyr, had recently been informed of Moscow's decision.
On Saturday morning, a Russian government plane flew from Moscow to Berlin for a special mission and then returned to Moscow, sources quoted by Die Welt said.
