Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are the latest countries to announce the expulsion of Russian diplomats amid the escalating Ukraine crisis.
According to the notice of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia on March 18, these countries decided to expel 10 Russian diplomats.
In a statement on Twitter, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics confirmed Latvia's decision to expel "was coordinated with Lithuania and Estonia".
Lithuania declared four employees of the Russian Embassy "unwelcome", while Latvia and Estonia also took similar action against three employees of the Russian Embassy.
"The current activities of these individuals under the guise of diplomacy are incompatible with their diplomatic status and are damaging to Latvia," the Latvian foreign ministry said in a statement on March 18.
"The deportees must leave Latvia by 11:59 p.m. on March 23," the statement said.
Lithuania also asked four Russian diplomats to leave the country within five days.
"Russian forces are actively engaged in the planning and execution of a military operation into Ukraine, which threatens not only the security of Ukraine but also Lithuania," the Lithuanian foreign ministry said in a statement. .
The Estonian Foreign Ministry accused all three Russian embassy employees of "directly and actively damaging Estonia's security and making statements justifying Russia's military action".
"The activities of the Russian diplomats violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, so they had to leave Estonia within 72 hours," the Estonian foreign ministry added.
On the same day, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry also announced that 10 Russian diplomats had to leave the country within 72 hours.
Earlier this week, Slovakia was reported to have also expelled three Russian diplomats on suspicion of being spies. Moscow vowed to respond to this move by Slovakia.
Earlier, the US ordered the expulsion of 12 diplomats working at Moscow's mission to the United Nations in New York on February 28. A spokesman for the US mission to the United Nations said that the expelled Russian diplomats had "engaged in espionage activities that harm US national security".
The announcement comes less than a week after the US expelled the diplomat from the Russian Embassy in Washington. The US State Department said the move was in response to Russia's "unprovoked" expulsion of a diplomat from the US embassy in Moscow.
The US expelled 27 Russian diplomats and their families late last year, asking them to leave before January 30. Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov at the time said the embassy was facing a severe shortage of personnel. Before that, Russia had nearly 200 diplomats working in the US, including Moscow's mission to the United Nations.
The above moves take place in the context of escalating tensions between Russia and the West due to the Ukraine issue. To protest against Russia's military campaign in Ukraine, the US and many European countries have imposed a series of sanctions on Moscow.
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