Austria and Croatia expel Russian diplomats

Vienna revoked the status of four diplomatic staff members, joining other European nations’ expulsion spree

Austria has declared personae non-gratae to four Russian diplomats, the foreign ministry announced on Thursday. Many other nations made similar moves this week, expelling dozens of Russian diplomats.

Three employees of the Russian embassy in Vienna and one from the consulate in Salzburg were instructed to leave Austria by the end of next Tuesday, the statement by the Austrian foreign ministry said. The move was justified by the Russians’ alleged activities that “have not been in accordance with their diplomatic status.”

Earlier, Croatia announced the expulsion of Russian diplomats.

Moscow said it will respond to the Austrian expulsions “correspondingly”.

Earlier in the week, European nations expelled dozens of Russian diplomats. Some explicitly tied their decisions with Kiev’s allegations that Russian troops were engaged in war crimes in Ukraine. Others cited national security concerns or made non-specific accusations of breaking diplomatic protocol, like Austria did.

The Ukrainian government claimed Russia was committing genocide of the Ukrainian people days after Russian forces withdrew from some cities and towns in Ukraine. Kiev presented scenes of the mass deaths of civilians in places it took control of to back its claims. Some of the images were of dead people in civilian clothes with their hands tied, who Ukraine claimed were executed by the withdrawing Russians soldiers.

Moscow denied the allegations and accused Kiev of fabricating evidence to discredit Russia. Many Western nations took the Ukrainian claims on face value before any independent investigation could take place.