Russia has expelled two military diplomats from the Romanian Embassy in a tit-for-tat move after Bucharest expelled two Russian diplomats.
The foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that it summoned the Romanian embassy’s deputy head of mission, Liliana Burda, and informed her the embassy’s defense attaché and his deputy “persona non grata.”
The move is a response to what the ministry called “a groundless decision” to declare the military attaché at the Russian embassy in Bucharest and his assistant “persona non grata,” last month, the statement said.
Romania’s Foreign Ministry called the expulsions “unfounded.”
Last month, Romania expelled two military diplomats from the Russian Embassy in Bucharest over alleged “activities that contravene the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961.”
The Russian embassy called the decision “unfounded and unfriendly” and said Moscow “reserves the right to take retaliatory measures.”
The expulsions came a day after Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service reportedly claimed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had asked Bucharest to bar Romanian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu who emerged as the frontrunner in last year’s canceled election, from participating in the rerun in May.
Georgescu has echoed Kremlin narrative calling Ukraine “an invented stgate” and Russia President Vladimir Putin as a patriot.
Romania holds the re-run of presidential elections on May 4 and 18.
