Russia continued to carry out a diplomatic war with three former Soviet states, expelling 10 diplomats on Tuesday.
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania each ejected Russian diplomats from their countries two weeks ago “in connection with activities that are contrary to their diplomatic status and taking into account ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine.”
At the time, Russia’s spokeswoman for the foreign ministry said, “All ungrounded expulsions of Russian diplomats will be met with an appropriate answer.”
Reuters reported that Russia complained to the diplomats that their countries’ decision to expel Russian diplomats was “provocative” and “groundless.”
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Russia’s diplomatic ties are dissolving as it continues to seek a victory in Ukraine. On Monday, North Macedonia expelled five Russian diplomats, giving them five days to leave the country.
The Balkan country did not release details about why it decided to expel the diplomats other than that they were “carrying out activities that are contrary to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” according to an English translation of a Radio Free Europe report.
North Macedonia expelled two Russian diplomats last year, and in 2020, it ejected two diplomats for “domestic security reasons” after a former Russian spy was poisoned in Britain.
It’s unclear how much of Russia’s diplomatic service is serving legitimately. Last week, Poland expelled 45 Russians it claimed were “pretending” to be diplomats.
“We are dismantling the Russian special services network in our country,” Poland’s interior minister, Mariusz Kaminski, wrote on Twitter.
The international community has almost unanimously condemned Russia’s war of aggression.
At a United Nations emergency session in early March, more than 140 diplomats walked out of the General Assembly as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attempted to justify the war.
Belarus, one country that has continued to cooperate with Russia, has also felt the sting of severed diplomatic ties. The United States closed its Embassy there days after Russia used the country as a staging ground for troops to invade Ukraine.
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Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are all members of NATO and the European Union and have each joined those organizations’ efforts to sanction Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
Besides the former Soviet states, North Macedonia, and Poland, Russia has also gotten itself into diplomatic expulsion wars with the U.S. and Bulgaria.
