Russia has declared two diplomats at the German embassy in Moscow persona non grata in response to Germany's decision to expel two Russian diplomats following a Berlin Supreme Court ruling in the murder of Georgian citizen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili.
"On December 20, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Russian Federation Geza Andreas von Geir was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry. The German ambassador was informed that two diplomatic staff members of the German embassy in Russia had been declared persona non grata in symmetrical response to the aforementioned unfriendly decision of the German government. Berlin's confrontational attacks on us in the future, "the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued Monday.
The Russian Foreign Ministry added that the diplomat was "strongly protested" in connection with the hostile actions of Germany. "It was stated that the Russian side categorically rejects the unfounded and distorted accusations of involvement of Russian state structures in this crime, cited as part of the sentence, which has the character of an explicit political order," the ministry said in a statement.
On December 15, the Berlin Supreme Court sentenced a Russian citizen to life in prison for the murder of Zelimkhan Hangoshvili. The court agreed with the prosecution's argument that the murder was "committed on behalf of the state structures of the Russian Federation." The German Foreign Ministry declared two employees of the Russian embassy persona non grata.
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