TIRANA, September 16 – North Macedonia’s Foreign Ministry has ordered the expulsion of three Russian diplomats, the third such move since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, reported RFE/RL’s Balkan Service on Saturday.
The ministry did not specify the reasons but said the decision was made after information indicated that their actions were contrary to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
The ambassador of the Russian Federation in Skopje, Sergey Bazdnikin was summoned on September 12 and was informed that three of his colleagues were proclaimed personae non grata and must leave the country, the ministry said in a statement.
Russia vowed that the “hostile step…will not go unanswered.”
“The authorities in North Macedonia continue to move along the path of worsening the confrontation and lead bilateral relations in a dead end, which are in a deep crisis anyway. We consider the decision to expel our colleagues as an inappropriate desire of the leadership of this country to once again show the Western guards its importance in the fight against the imaginary “Russian threat”,” said the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the official website. “The irresponsible and hostile step of the authorities of North Macedonia will not go unanswered,” said the announcement.
The tiny Balkan nation, a NATO member, had previously expelled at least 11 Russian diplomats. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the end of February 2022, North Macedonia followed the EU’s lead in sanctioning Moscow, with officials in Skopje labelling Russia a “hostile state”, reported AFP. /argumentum.al
