The official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Marija Zaharova, says that Russia regards the expulsion of its diplomats as part of a strengthening trend of confrontation.
Official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova says that Russia sees the expulsion of its diplomats as part of a growing trend of increasing confrontation with Sweden.
– Of course, such actions, as you know, do not go unanswered, Zaharova said at her weekly press conference.
Sweden has declared five Russian diplomats as undesirable persons. Zaharova characterized the deportations as yet another unfriendly and provocative step by the Swedish authorities.
Zaharova said that the background of the deportations is a large-scale propaganda campaign against Russia in the media of Sweden and other Nordic countries.
Zaharova referred to a project by Nordic broadcasting companies, where journalists have revealed the identity of dozens of Russian intelligence officers.
– They have exposed the Russian espionage conspiracy in Northern Europe and so on, Zaharova said and posed a question to Western countries:
– Tell me when you will publish statistics on the representatives of your intelligence services working in your missions. I think that would be fair. Then we can talk about it, Zaharova said.
Already over the weekend, Zaharova characterized the revelations on her Telegram channel as the demonization of Russia, which is backed by state actors.
Earlier in April, Norway expelled 15 Russian diplomats, to which Russia responded by expelling 10 Norwegian diplomats and limiting the number of local employees in Norwegian missions in Russia.
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