Russian President Vladimir Putin limited the diplomatic missions of countries committing “unfriendly actions” towards the Russian Federation, in the possibility of hiring individuals who are on the territory of the Russian Federation. The corresponding decree was published on the Kremlin’s website.

The restriction does not apply to citizens of “unfriendly states” who arrived in Russia as employees of diplomatic missions.

If necessary, for the diplomatic missions of “unfriendly countries” can impose a complete ban on the admission of employees from Russia, the decree says.

The list of “unfriendly states” is not provided in the document. It also does not indicate how many employees from Russia will be able to hire diplomatic missions of these countries. All this is to be determined by the government of the Russian Federation.

Since the beginning of April, more than 40 Russian diplomats have been expelled from the United States and eight European countries. Most of the diplomats – 18 people – were expelled by the Czech Republic, whose authorities accused the Russian special services of organizing the explosions at military depots in Vrbetica in 2014.

Russia responded asymmetrically to the expulsion of diplomats  . For example, after the departure of 18 Russians from Prague, Moscow declared 20 Czech diplomats persona non grata. In response, the Czech Republic announced the expulsion of another group of Russian diplomats.

(c)MEDUZA 2021