80 Diplomats Expelled From Italy, Denmark And France, Russia Will Take Retaliatory Steps

JAKARTA - Moscow has confirmed it will take action against a number of countries expelling their diplomats, a move senior officials said would be disproportionate and could potentially damage bilateral relations.

One by one Western countries announced the expulsion of Russian diplomats from their countries, with Denmark and Italy the latest two countries to confirm expulsions.

"Related measures will be taken against the staff of the country's foreign office," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS, regarding the expulsion of 15 of their diplomats by Denmark, as quoted April 5.

A proper and proportionate response will also be made against Italy and France, which expelled between 30 and 35 Russian diplomats, respectively.

Earlier, the Italian Foreign Ministry also summoned the Russian Ambassador to the country, informing them of the expulsion of their diplomats from the country of Pizza.

Denmark takes a slightly different stance. Despite expelling the diplomats, they do not want to cut diplomatic ties with Moscow. Thus, the ambassador and several other staff were not expelled.

"Russia will respond accordingly to the expulsions," Zakharova said.

In addition to the three countries above, Germany also announced yesterday the expulsion of 40 Russian diplomats, while Lithuania on Monday said it was expelling the Russian ambassador over the invasion of Ukraine.

In this regard, a senior Moscow official said Russia would respond proportionally to the expulsion of dozens of its diplomats by Western countries, calling the move damaging to bilateral relations.

Russia will respond proportionally to the expulsion of its diplomats from a number of Western countries, former Russian president and deputy head of the security council Dmitry Medvedev said late Monday.

"Everyone knows the answer, it will be symmetrical and damage bilateral relations," Medvedev said in a post on his Telegram channel.

"Who have they punished? First of all, themselves," he stressed.

"If this continues, it will be appropriate, as I wrote back on February 26, to slam the doors of Western embassies," Medvedev said.

"It will be cheaper for everyone. And then we will end up just looking at each other in other ways than through gunfights."