The expulsion of the Russian diplomats is one in a series of anti-Russian moves, he said. According to Kosachev, in either of these cases, there was no "graphic evidence" that these people acted in contradiction of their diplomatic status.
"These expulsions rather had political undertones. Nobody, including Russia, has ever questioned the sovereignty and independence of these countries. Therefore, I see these gestures as excessive and hampering co-operation within the new greater Europe," said Kosachev.
When speaking about the expulsion of Russian diplomats from the Baltic countries, Kosachev meant above all Estonia and Lithuania who became EU members on May 1 along with Latvia and seven Eastern and Central European countries, and also joined Nato in April. There is another fresh example: early last week, the new authorities of Slovakia which was considered one of Russia's closest allies in Eastern Europe, announced the expulsion of a Russian diplomat for the same symbolic reasons. Clearly, as common practice has it, in all these cases Moscow had to react accordingly to the demarches of Tallinn, Vilnius and Bratislava.
