The German authorities decided on the mass expulsion of employees of Russian diplomatic missions, in response, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced a “mirror” expulsion of German diplomats. The statement was published on the website of the Russian Ministry.
The Russian Federation officially notified German Ambassador to Russia Gez Andreas von Geyr of this during a conversation at the Russian Foreign Ministry on April 5, 2023, the report says.
The Foreign Ministry claims that Berlin continues to "defiantly destroy the entire array of Russian-German relations."
“As a reaction to the hostile actions of Berlin, the Russian side decided to “mirror” the expulsion of German diplomats from Russia, as well as to significantly limit the maximum number of employees of German diplomatic missions in our country.”
Russian diplomats began to be expelled due to suspicions of espionage in early 2022. At the end of January, Germany declared a Russian diplomat persona non grata over suspicions of espionage. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Austria, Germany, Bulgaria, Sweden, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Luxembourg announced the expulsion of Russian diplomats, and 480 citizens of the Russian Federation from various missions turned out to be persona non grata. So, in March, the Netherlands expelled 17 Russian diplomats, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra reported that the country was expelling "scouts seconded to Russian missions in the Netherlands under diplomatic cover" who pose a security threat.