The Russian ambassador will be summoned to the Austrian Foreign Ministry on Monday. The head of the department Schallenberg also criticized the statements of the Russian ambassador in an interview with the Austrian edition
Alexander Schallenberg
Austria does not rule out the expulsion of Russian diplomats, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said in an interview with the oe24 TV channel.
He also said that the Russian ambassador to Austria Dmitry Lyubinsky will be summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Monday.
During the conversation, Schallenberg criticized Lubinsky’s interview, which he gave to the Austrian publication Profil on April 2. In an interview, the Russian ambassador stated that Russia’s military operation in Ukraine began, after Moscow received information about the impending attack of Ukrainian troops on the Donbass “with grave consequences for the civilian population”. He also stated that by conducting the operation, Russia is “exercising the right of allies to self-defense”, referring to the forces of the DPR and LPR. He also stated that only military facilities are being attacked.
Commenting on Lubinsky’s interview, Schallenberg called his words bullying. “We will tell the ambassador very clearly what we think about it,” the head of the Austrian Foreign Ministry added.
After the start of the military operation in Ukraine, European countries began to expel Russian diplomats. Slovakia, Latvia and Estonia declared three employees of Russian diplomatic missions as persona non grata, Lithuania – four, North Macedonia – five. Poland has decided to expel 45 Russian diplomats, the Netherlands 17, Belgium 21, Ireland;four, Czech Republic— one. Bild has learned that Germany can expel up to 100 employees of Russian diplomatic agencies.
Russia has taken retaliatory measures, in particular through the diplomats of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia. The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova called the expulsion of Russian diplomats an attempt to “politically” punish Russia.
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