2018
On March 17, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared 23 diplomatic staff of the UK Embassy in Moscow personae non gratae and demanded them to leave the country within a week. The move came in wake of a souring of relations between Russia and the UK, which have become increasingly strained after former GRU Colonel Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found poisoned in Salisbury, England. On March 14, British Prime Minister Theresa May accused Russia of its alleged involvement in the poisoning and announced that London would expel 23 Russian diplomats and break off all high-level contacts.
2017
On November 28, the mainstream media reported that two diplomats from the Swedish Embassy in Russia could be expelled from the country in response to similar actions taken by the Swedish side. The Embassy of Sweden in Russia did not comment on the possible expulsion of its staff. Neither did the Russian Embassy in Sweden.
READ MORE: Expelling US Diplomats Shows ‘Further Deterioration’ of US-Russia Relations — US
On July 28, in response to the closure of diplomatic missions in the US and the expulsion of Russian diplomats, Moscow suggested that Washington should reduce its diplomatic staff by 755 persons, down to 455 – the same number of staff working in Russian diplomatic missions in the US.
'Orchestrators of Attack on Skripals Aimed to Point at Russians' – Finnish MP
On May 31, Russia informed Estonia of a reciprocal expulsion of two diplomats. The Estonian Consul-General in St. Petersburg and the head of the Pskov Office of the Consulate General should have left Russia within five days. On May 26, Estonian authorities ordered Russian Consul-General in Narva Dmitry Kazennov and the Consul Andrey Surgaev to leave the country. Reasons for this decision were not reported.
2016
On July 9, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared two American diplomats personae non gratae and announced their expulsion from Moscow. Earlier, US State Department spokesman John Kirby reported that on June 17 the US had expelled two Russian diplomats in response to an incident that occurred with an American diplomat in Moscow. The incident was reported by the Washington Post, which wrote that on June 6 an American official had been attacked. The Russian Foreign Ministry explained that the diplomat was a CIA employee and that it was he who attacked a Russian policeman guarding the embassy. This was then confirmed by CCTV footage.
2015
On September 1, Russia expelled the Ukrainian diplomat Igor Fediekevich who had been working at the Ukrainian Consulate in St. Petersburg. This was done in response to the expulsion of a Russian diplomat from Odessa. On July 13, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine delivered a note declaring the acting Consul-General in Odessa to be a persona non grata and reported that the Russian diplomat had already left the country.
2014
On November 17, it was reported that Russia expelled several Polish diplomats for activities incompatible with their status in response to the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Poland. Three military attachés and one official from the political department of the Polish diplomatic mission had to leave the country.
On April 22, the Canadian diplomatic mission in Moscow was informed that its First Secretary Margarita Atanasov was to be expelled from Russia within two weeks. This was done in response to the expulsion of a Russian assistant military attaché from Ottawa.
2013
On the night of May 13 to 14, the Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested CIA agent Ryan Christopher Fogle as he tried to recruit a Russian security officer. Fogle, who had been working as the third secretary of the political department in the US Embassy in Moscow, was declared a persona non grata and ordered to leave the country immediately.
On November 17 it was reported that the Estonian Consul-General in St. Petersburg Franek Persidski was declared a persona non grata in the Russia. According to Estonian media, this was because of Estonia’s refusal to grant visas to a group of young Russians who were on their way to Tallinn to participate in round-table discussions at The Baltic Dialogue 2013.
2011
On May 12, Israel's military attaché in Moscow, Vadim Leiderman, was arrested on suspicion of espionage and left Russia within 48 hours. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Vadim Leiderman was caught in the act receiving secret information from the Russian citizen. With regard to the activities incompatible with Leiderman’s diplomatic status, the Russian Foreign Ministry voiced its protest and declared him a persona non grata.
2010
In late December, according to Spanish media, the Russian Foreign Ministry ordered Political Attaché Ignacio Cartagena and First Secretary Borja Cortes-Breton to leave the country. This was after Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jiménez García-Herrera agreed with the order made by Director of the National Intelligence Service Felix Sanz Roldan to expel two Russian diplomats in late November.
READ MORE: 'Orchestrators of Attack on Skripals Aimed to Point at Russians' – Finnish MP
On August 16, Gabriel Grecu, first secretary of the political department at the Romanian Embassy in Moscow, was arrested for espionage by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. According to the FSB, Grecu was working at the Romanian Embassy in Moscow “under the cover of his position as a first secretary of the political department”. The diplomat was declared a persona non grata and was ordered to leave the country within two days. Romania received a “strong protest” in connection with his activity. After the incident, Romanian authorities expelled one diplomat from the Russian Embassy in Romania.
