Ukraine Expels Russian Diplomat

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine will expel a senior diplomat from the Russian Embassy in Kyiv, Chernikov, in response to Russia’s expulsion of the Ukrainian consul in Saint Petersburg. The relevant note will be sent to the Russian Embassy today.

Diplomats note that the Ukrainian side has already heard some blackmail from the Russian side. “We are accused that if we emphasise the declaration persona non grata of an employee of the embassy, and not one of the consulates, they will be forced to declare an employee of our embassy in Moscow persona non grata. The civilised world needs to get used to the fact that Russian diplomacy is not diplomacy at all, but a continuation of the activities of special services in a hybrid war; and we see everything perfectly in examples,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Yevhen Yenin said.

As a reminder, on Saturday, 17 April, the employees of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation detained the Ukrainian consul, Oleksandr Sosoniuk, in St. Petersburg for allegedly receiving confidential information from databases of law enforcement agencies and FSB.

“Such actions by the Russian authorities grossly violate the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963 and confirm Russia’s choosing of the line of hostility with Ukraine,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reported.

It should be noted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia summoned the Chargé d’Affaires of Ukraine in the Russian Federation, Vasyl Pokotylo, and announced that the consul of the Consulate General of Ukraine in St. Petersburg was undesirable in Russia. He is required to leave the territory of the Russian Federation by 21 April.

Natalia Tolub