DUSHANBE, July 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Ukraine had not presented any evidence to back up its claims that Russian diplomats were involved in espionage.
Kiev earlier asked the Russian consul general in Odessa and a senior counselor at the Russian embassy to end their work in Ukraine over accusations that they had been involved in contacts with Ukrainian non-governmental organizations engaged in the promotion of close ties between the two former Soviet republics.
"The Ukrainian authorities have not presented us with any facts of espionage," Lavrov told reporters in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe. "They simply do not exist. We know this for sure."
The minister also said that maintaining contacts with legitimate political forces, which openly express their ideas and conduct their activities in accordance with national laws, cannot be deemed "incompatible with a diplomatic status."
In a tit-for-tat response to Ukraine's actions, Moscow asked Kiev on Wednesday to recall two senior diplomats from Russia, saying "Russia considers the diplomatic actions previously taken by Ukraine to be a move aimed against Russia, to the detriment of bilateral relations."
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday the Russian move was aimed at "hampering Ukrainian-Russian dialogue" and showed an "unwillingness to develop an equitable partnership with Ukraine."
