MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia has expelled a diplomat from the Ukrainian consulate in St.Petersburg in response to a similar move by Ukrainian authorities, a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
"You remember that our diplomat was expelled from Odessa. We are taking symmetrical measures," the source told RIA Novosti.
On July 13, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry sent a diplomatic note to announce that the acting Russian consular general in Odessa had been made a persona non grata.
Although the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry did not specify the name of the diplomat, who had left Ukraine, the Russian diplomatic mission in Odessa lists the acting consular general as Valery Shibeko.
The Russian Foreign Ministry labeled the move an attempt to create tensions in bilateral relations and pledged to take necessary counter measures.
