Germany expels Russian diplomats

The Russian Foreign Ministry reported the information.

The ministry noted that the German authorities have decided on another mass expulsion of employees of Russian diplomatic missions in Germany.

"We strongly condemn these actions of Berlin, which continues to demonstratively destroy the entire array of Russian-German relations, including their diplomatic dimension. It is significant that the German side, despite its repeated assurances of having no intentions to publicize this story, violated them by informing about its stunt those media it regularly turns to in order to spread "controlled leaks" and disinformation," the ministry said.

The statement added that the German ambassador had been informed of Russia's response to the expulsion of the diplomats and Moscow’s intention to mirror the move.

Deutsche Welle, citing a statement by a spokesperson for the German Air Force to the dpa news agency, writes that on April 22, a plane with special diplomatic permission took off from Moscow to Berlin. The Russian Il-96-300 landed in the German capital at about 9 a.m. And according to Flightradar24, three hours later, the plane left the Berlin airport and was expected to land at Vnukovo airport in Moscow around 3:30 p.m. Russian time.

"A competent source confirmed this information to DW and noted that it was not a regular passenger flight, which falls within the competence of the civilian airport BER," the journalists said, adding that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the EU has closed its airspace to Russian carriers, so "a plane from Russia is an extraordinary event."

It is not known how many Russian diplomats were expelled or the extent of the restrictions imposed on the German Embassy in Moscow.

• On March 25, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was reported to have plans of expelling more than 30 Russian diplomats accredited in Berlin.