Russia to retaliate against Germany for expelling 2 diplomats

By Dmitri Chirciu

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia will retaliate against Germany for expelling two Russian diplomats, the country’s Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday.

Berlin’s decision is “unfriendly,” and Russia will give an adequate response soon, said spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in a post on Telegram.

Moscow will soon issue a statement on the matter, she added.

Germany’s decision was linked to a ruling earlier in the day by the Berlin High Court on the murder of a Chechen asylum seeker in Berlin in 2019.

The court ruled that 56-year-old Vadim Nikolaevich Krasikov carried out the killing on the orders of "state bodies of the Russian central government."

The victim, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, was a Georgian citizen of Chechen ethnicity who fought against Russian troops in Chechnya in the early 2000s.

Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said they decided to declare two diplomats of the Russian Embassy in Berlin “persona non grata” following the court verdict.