Russia Expels German Embassy Staff in Retaliation for Espionage Allegations

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Thursday said that it had summoned the German Ambassador's representative to inform them that it had declared a staff member at the German Embassy persona non grata. The ministry linked the move to a decision by the German governmentto expel an employee of the Russian Embassy in Berlin last month on espionage allegationswhich Russia rejects. It called Thursday's move a "symmetrical response" and said that Germany bore "full responsibility for the new escalation in bilateral relations." German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, meanwhile, criticized the move as "completely unacceptable" and said it was lacking in factual basis. "While our diplomats adhere to the law, Russia relies on escalation and espionage under the guise of diplomacy," Wadephul said. He said the German government would continue to respond firmly to Russian activities and that it reserved the right to take further measures if it saw fit. Speaking on the sidelines of a visit to Brunei, Wadephul said that the affected staff member was part of the military attache staff at the embassy in Moscow. This appears to correspond to information reported by German new agency dpa, which had cited sources saying that the Russian diplomat expelled on January 22 was the deputy military attache in Berlin.That case was connected to the arrest of a Ukrainian national in Germany accused of gathering sensitive information and passing it to Russia. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser thatsupports HTML5 video Security services across Europe have warned of a growing threat of Russian espionage since thefull-scale invasion of Ukraine, and a series of similar reciprocal expulsions involving a number of NATO member states have taken place in recent years. Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez