The Russian Foreign Ministry announced on 4 October that it has declared a staffer from the North Macedonian Embassy persona non grata in response to a similar move against a Russian diplomat that Skopje made in August.
"On 4 October, [Olivera] Chaushevska-Dimovska, North Macedonia's charge d'affaires ad interim in Russia, was invited to the Russian Foreign Ministry and received a ministerial note saying that a staffer of the North Macedonian Embassy in Moscow was declared persona non grata. This measure is taken in response to North Macedonia's unsubstantiated decision to declare a diplomat from the Russian Embassy in Skopje persona non grata in August", the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
In August, North Macedonian Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani said that Skopje had decided to expel a Russian diplomat whose behaviour allegedly contradicted the principles of the Vienna Convention. Prior to that, Skopje expelled another Russian diplomat in May.