Russia expels another Romanian diplomat in response to a similar decision taken by the authorities in Bucharest.
According to Serghei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Affairs minister, the decision was made in response to Romania’s action to expel a Russian diplomat. In return, Cosmin Constantin Ionita, Romania’s charge d’affaires in Russia was declared a non grata person.
On September 8, Romania’s chargé d’affaires in the Russian Federation (prime collaborator, according to the Bucharest MAE website), Cosmin Constantin Ioniţă, was invited to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he was handed a note from the ministry regarding declaring an employee of the Romanian Embassy in Russia as „persona non grata”.
Serghei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Affairs minister.
For its part, the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that the declaration by the Russian Federation as persona non grata of a representative of the Romanian Embassy in Moscow is a reciprocity measure compared to the declaration as persona non grata on the territory of Romania, announced by the Romanian MFA in August, of a representative of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Bucharest.
As early as March, Romania, along with all the EU states, the USA and Great Britain, was put by Russia on the list of „countries unfriendly to Russia.”
In April 2022, Romania announced that it had expelled ten Russian diplomats following the Bucha genocide. In August, the Romanian MFA expelled another diplomat from the Russian Embassy in Bucharest.
Moscow then said it would respond „adequately” to Bucharest’s decision.
