The Embassy of the Russian Federation asked Montenegro to explain the publication of the head of the Foreign Ministry on the break in diplomatic relations
The Russian Embassy in Podgorica requested clarification from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Montenegro due to a message about the break in diplomatic relations with Moscow, which was later deleted. Writes about it TASS.
The note was sent due to the publication of a statement by Minister Djordje Radulovic about the need to break off diplomatic relations with Russia on the Ministry’s Twitter. The tweet reported that Radulovic, during a meeting on the application of sanctions against the Russian Federation, spoke about the need for the state institutions of the country to comply with all measures, including a complete or partial severance of economic and diplomatic relations, as well as restriction of entry into Montenegro. The publication was posted on April 18, and after it was deleted, the press service of the Foreign Ministry explained that it was only about “types of restrictive measures.”
On April 8, Montenegro, due to Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, adopted a package of sanctions. In his address to members of the Montenegrin government, Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazovich thanked his colleagues for agreeing on the issues of anti-Russian restrictions. It is noted that they were adopted after several unsuccessful attempts, since the issue of restrictions became debatable between supporters of Dritan Abazovic and Prime Minister of Montenegro Zdravko Krivokapic.
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Earlier, the Montenegrin Foreign Ministry declared four employees of the Russian diplomatic mission in the republic persona non grata. “The ministry made this decision based on the assessment of the Montenegrin security authorities on the actions of Russian diplomats and Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” the report said.
Persona non grata and the boycott
Montenegro is not the only country that has decided to expel Russian diplomats. So, on April 4, the French Foreign Ministry decided to expel about 30 employees of the Russian Embassy in Paris. In addition, the French Foreign Ministry issued a communiqué, according to which “the expelled employees were engaged in activities contrary to the security interests of France.” The German Foreign Ministry also declared 40 employees of the Russian embassy in Berlin persona non grata and ordered them to leave Germany. The head of the department, Annalena Burbock, said that the expelled diplomats “worked every day against” the freedom and cohesion of the German people. The Austrian authorities declared four Russian diplomats persona non grata, Italy – 30. Japan also expelled 30 representatives of the diplomatic mission. A similar decision was announced by the Netherlands, Belgium, Slovakia, Lithuania, Ireland, North Macedonia, the Czech Republic and others.
The expulsions of Russian diplomats continue, and this threatens diplomatic relations between the countries. Meanwhile, the US authorities announced a boycott of the G20 summit with the participation of Russia. Thus, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki confirmed that US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen would boycott a number of meetings.
I note that our representative there, the head of the Ministry of Finance, made it clear that she does not plan to participate in events in which Russia participates
Russian officials were supposed to attend the G20 meeting remotely.
US President Joe Biden said earlier that Washington is in favor of excluding Russia from the G20, despite the lack of support for such a decision from all members of the organization. The President also called for Ukraine to be invited to the place of the Russian Federation to participate in the future summit. His national security aide, Jake Sullivan, explained that Moscow “can no longer do business as usual in international institutions and in the international community,” so excluding it from the G20 would be an appropriate decision.
Russian response
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted a complete break in diplomatic relations with the West. “If this practice continues, then there is a potential risk that this will happen,” he said in response to the expulsion of diplomats from France. According to him, in the current unprecedented conditions, these measures are frankly harmful and hinder the settlement of the current crisis. “We have a negative attitude, we treat with regret,” Peskov said, commenting on the situation with the expulsion of Russian diplomats from other countries.
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Russia also expelled diplomats from a number of countries in response, calling Europe’s actions unmotivated. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, stated that the expulsions of diplomats are anti-Russian actions. “We strongly protest this emphatically unfriendly, unmotivated step, which has a devastating effect on the entire range of Russian-Croatian relations,” she said after the Croatian decision.
Zakharova also accused Europe and the United States of following a Russophobic logic because, she said, they call for a fight against Russia and miss the consequences of such actions. “Agitating the population to fight against Russia and condoning the “volunteers” (read: mercenaries), our European and American “partners”, according to an already unkind tradition, do not calculate the consequences, subordinating their decisions to blind Russophobic logic, even if they threaten them in the future” , she emphasized.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in the Donbass. In response, a number of Western countries imposed sanctions against Russia. Also, many international companies temporarily stopped working in the country or left the Russian market.
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