Slovakia is expelling three Russian diplomats, Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger announced, he was quoted as saying by the TA3 channel, APA reports citing TASS.
"Slovakia is expelling three Russian diplomats," he said. "They are required to leave the country within the next seven days."
The move comes as Bratislava’s reaction to a plea put forward by Prague to NATO allies and EU members to show solidarity with the Czech Republic after it expelled several members of the Russian Embassy in Prague personae non gratae over explosions at the Vrbetice ammo depot in 2014. Czech authorities claim that Russian intelligence services were involved in the incident. The Russian Foreign Ministry protested the step that Prague had taken "under false pretenses," and declared 20 employees of the Czech Embassy in Moscow personae non grata in response.
"We believe it I very important to do everything possible to ensure security and so that diplomatic missions work in Slovakia in accordance with our laws and international agreements. Slovakia cannot disregard activities of representatives of foreign diplomatic missions who disrespect treaty principles," Heger said.
According to him, the decision to expel Russian diplomats was made "based on the information received from our intelligence services who cooperate closely with partner intelligence services of [NATO and EU] allies" and "in light of the situation in neighboring geopolitical space and current events in the Czech Republic who we (Slovakian authorities - TASS) express solidarity and full support for.".
Follow us on Telegram
t.me/apanewsaz
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
