Moscow to Respond to Romania's Expulsion of Russian Embassy Staffer 'Under Made-Up Pretext'

Romania claimed that the staffer's presence in the country went against the provisions of the Vienna convention regulating diplomatic relations between countries. In spring this year Romania expelled 10 Russian diplomats following the response of other western countries to Russia's special military operation in Ukraine.

Russia will provide an "adequate response" to Romania's decision to declare one of the staffers of the Russian embassy in the country persona non grata, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has stated. She added that information about specific steps that Moscow will be taking in response would be announced later.

Zakharova noted that Romania had declared the staffer persona non grata, thus forcing him to leave the country, under a "made-up pretext".

"We are talking about a new provocation, carried out in accordance with a scenario that has been repeatedly tested in the vast majority of the EU and NATO member countries in recent months. The textbook actions of the Romanian authorities were designed to demonstrate their utmost loyalty to the Western course. Bucharest's actions show no signs of an independent, nationally-oriented foreign policy, which only aggravates the situation," she added.

The statement follows Romania's decision to declare a staffer at Russia's embassy in the country persona non grata. The diplomat will have to leave the country within a week.

Bucharest claimed that the staffer's presence in the country violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations – a set of rules on how the states should organize their diplomatic ties and the work of their embassies, consulates and diplomatic representatives, signed in 1961.