The foreign ministers of eight European Union countries called on the EU to ban Russian diplomats from free movement within the bloc and limit their stay in the countries where they are accredited.
Points of attention
- The ban on free movement in EU countries aims to prevent the malicious activity of Russian diplomatic and official passport holders.
- Poland is already proposing to limit the movement of employees of the Russian embassy and consulates due to the country's participation in the hybrid war.
- Measures to restrict the movement of diplomats are related to suspicions of Russia's involvement in sabotage in the European Union.
- Relations between Poland and Russia are strained due to the Russian Federation's war against Ukraine, but diplomatic relations are maintained.
8 EU countries plan to restrict the movement of Russian diplomats
With the corresponding letter, they turned to the EU's top representative for foreign policy, Josep Borrell, Reuters reports.
Free movement of holders of Russian diplomatic and service passports, accredited in one host state, across the whole Schengen area is easing malign activities, the letter dated June 11 states.
The ministers of the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania signed the letter.
European politicians justify their position by the fact that intelligence, propaganda, "or even preparation of sabotage acts are the main workload for a large number of Russian 'diplomats' in the EU"; even after limiting movement, the threat remains.
"We believe the EU should strictly follow the reciprocity principle and restrict the movement of members of Russian diplomatic missions and their family members to territory of a state of their accreditation only," they said.
Poland to limit the movement of embassy's employees and consulates from Russia
This decision was made in connection with "Russia's participation in the hybrid war against the EU" and concerns employees of the Russian embassy and consulates in Poland.
This was announced by Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski at a press conference in Brussels after the meeting of EU foreign ministers.
The Russian Embassy will soon receive a note on this matter.
These will be decisions regarding the embassy itself and the consular staff of the Russian embassy in Poland. Employees of diplomatic institutions will be able to move only within the regions where their missions are based.
Radoslaw Sikorski
Polish MFA chief
According to Sikorski, the measures are related to suspicions of Russia's involvement in several recent sabotage acts in the country.
Relations between Poland and Russia are extremely tense, primarily in connection with the Russian Federation's war against Ukraine. The parties, however, maintain diplomatic relations, and the Russian ambassador still works in Poland.
