Sweden has decided to expel five Russian diplomats, as their activities in the country are incompatible with their diplomatic status. This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the country, Tobias Billstrom, in an interview with SVT Nyheter.
The Swedish Foreign Ministry notified Russian Ambassador Viktor Tatarintsev about the expulsion of diplomats on April 25, the Russian ambassador declined to comment, SVT reports.
In April 2022, Sweden also expelled three Russian diplomats, they were suspected of working for Russian intelligence.
Earlier, Norway also declared 15 employees of the Russian embassy persona non grata, because in fact they were undercover Russian intelligence officers. A similar decision was announced in the same month by the German authorities.
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, the 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.