THE Russian foreign ministry confirmed it had declared 5 Swedish ambassadors as persona non grata and ordered them to leave the country immediately.
The move came after Sweden expelled 5 Russian diplomats in late April which Moscow described as a “Russophobic campaign.”
The Russian foreign ministry summoned on Thursday Swedish ambassador Malena Mard and informed her of Moscow’s retaliatory measures over her country’s “confrontational course”.
Moscow also plans to close its general consulate in the Swedish City of Gothenburg on September 1st.
Moreover, Sweden’s general consulate in Saint Petersburg will have to stop operations by that time.
On the same day, Russia summoned the ambassadors of Germany, Sweden, and Denmark to discuss Moscow’s frustration with the lack of progress on investigations concerning the sabotaged Nord Stream gas pipelines.
Western countries have blamed Russia for the explosions under the Baltic Sea last September but the Kremlin has accused the US and its allies of organizing the blasts while insisting to include Moscow in the investigations.
In February, American journalist Seymour Hersh made shocking claims of how the United States executed a covert sea operation that involved months of planning and using highly-skilled deep-sea divers to trigger an explosion along the pipeline – claims that the White House strongly denied and tagged as “complete fiction.”
Meanwhile, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström lamented Moscow’s decision to expel the five diplomats as “very regrettable,” which he said stands as a confirmation of the negative political developments in Russia and the country’s international isolation.
The move comes as Western countries introduced unprecedented sanctions against Russia and pledged to send more military aid to Ukraine.
