The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that Russia had decided to respond in kind to the mass expulsion of its diplomats from Berlin. It did not disclose how many diplomats were included in the decision, nor was it clear whether Russian diplomats were still in the country or had already left.
Relations between Moscow and Berlin, which has been the biggest buyer of Russian oil and gas, have been strained since Russia sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022, and the West responded with sanctions. In the context of high tensions between the two countries in the past, Germany and Russia have repeatedly expelled diplomats from the opposite side.