Russia expels three EU diplomats for attending rallies in support of Navalny
Three European diplomats must leave the territory of Russia, as they attended the rallies in support of opposition politician Alexei Navalny, said the Russian Foreign Ministry.
These are employees of the consulates of Sweden and Poland in St. Petersburg and the German Embassy in Moscow who allegedly attended the rallies in support of the Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that it considers the actions of diplomats "unacceptable and such that do not correspond to their diplomatic status."
According to EUobserver, the decision to expel the diplomats was announced during a press conference of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and High Representative of the European Union Josep Borrell, who is in Moscow on his first visit.
The Swedish diplomatic mission noted that their citizen was simply following the actions.
Meanwhile, foreign diplomatic mission representatives also came to the court, where the next trial of the Navalny was held. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova that Russia deal with each such case.
Borrell, for his part, condemned the actions of the Russian authorities and called for a review of the decision to expel the diplomats, saying that their actions did not violate the Vienna Convention.