Moscow has ordered a group of Hungarian diplomats to leave Russia within two weeks, in response to Hungary’s expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats last month, Russian news agency TASS reported. The exact number of Hungarians affected has not yet been disclosed.
Russia announces retaliatory expulsions
Russia has announced the expulsion of Hungarian diplomats following Hungary’s decision last month to order 10 Russian diplomatic staff to leave the country.
Hungary’s chargé d’affaires in Moscow, Gábor Gergics, was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday morning and informed of the measures. According to the Russian ministry, staff members of the Hungarian Embassy in Moscow and the Hungarian consulates in St Petersburg and Kazan have been ordered to leave Russia within two weeks.
The Russian announcement did not specify how many Hungarian diplomats are affected. The move comes a bit more than three weeks after Hungary announced the expulsion of the 10 Russian diplomats. Russia has described its latest action as a retaliatory measure.
Hungary says it will maintain its diplomatic presence
Hungary’s Foreign Ministry said it had taken note of the Russian decision and described it as a response to Budapest’s earlier measure.
“The Hungarian government takes note of the Russian side’s decision, which we regard as a response to the previous Hungarian measure,” the ministry said.
“Hungary is not interested in an escalation of diplomatic tensions, while maintaining its previously taken decision based on national security considerations,” it added. The ministry also stressed that Hungary’s diplomatic missions in Russia would continue operating.
“The operation of our missions in Russia remains uninterrupted, and Hungary’s diplomatic presence in Russia will be maintained,” the statement said.
Budapest expelled 10 Russian diplomats in September
On 8 September, Foreign Minister Anita Orbán announced that Hungary had ordered 10 members of Russia’s diplomatic mission to leave the country.
According to the Hungarian government, the 10 individuals had engaged in activities that, in Hungary’s assessment, were unacceptable for diplomats under the Vienna Convention. The government did not officially describe the activities as espionage.
The decision represented an unusually large-scale expulsion of Russian diplomats by Hungary. It followed a quieter expulsion of a Russian diplomat in May, according to a previous report by VSquare.
Russia signalled at the time that it would respond. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the response would be “tough and painful”, while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said Moscow would give an “appropriate response”.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has now carried out that retaliatory measure.
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Exact number of Hungarian diplomats remains unclear
For the time being, neither the Russian announcement nor the Hungarian Foreign Ministry’s statement has specified the exact number of Hungarian diplomats who have been ordered to leave. The Russian measure affects personnel at Hungary’s embassy in Moscow and its consulates in St Petersburg and Kazan.
Hungary has said that its diplomatic presence in Russia will remain in place despite the expulsions, meaning the latest move does not amount to a severing of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
My apartment is in the embassy area but thankfully the Russian embassy is far to the other side. Walking past the embassies they all have large signs on the fence and usually pictures of touristic sights inviting you to visit the country. When you walk past the Russian embassy after first navigating your way across Andrassy ut from the Navalny memorial you find yourself at something that more resembles a mafia hideout. There is no sign whatsoever on the fence to tell you what the building is on the other side . If you peer through the gate you can see a tiny plaque beside the door of the building that identifies it as the Russian embassy.
The Russians are the only ones who won’t put their nation’s flag out in front of their embassy. Shame? Why? You can look at the picture in this article and see if you can find a flag.
Actually, Dear Larry – there are others, more powerful than the Russians, who will not put their flag, or coat of arms, over the places they control, for if they did do this, people, of the West, would realize how dominated and controlled they, we, are.
Dear Mouton. You are complete full of sh*t.
Russia suffered its highest monthly losses of the year in September but gained no territory in return, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), whose latest map outlines the state of the frontline.
Ukraine’s armed forces said on Thursday that Russia had suffered 46,000 casualties last month, while the Washington, D.C.-based think tank gave its assessment of how the battlefield has shifted over the last six months. “Russian forces continue to sustain significant personnel losses while achieving extremely limited or even net negative territorial gains,” the think tank said, noting how Russia’s recruits are not enough to replace the losses. As its map shows, the ISW said it had evidence that Russian forces seized 175.54 square kilometers (67 square miles) last month but lost 256.35 square kilometers (98 square miles) of territory in September, for a total loss of 80.81 square kilometers (30 square miles). Russians are suckers dying by the thousands for the vanity of Putin. It’s a failed culture that only exists under oppressive dictatorship and widespread corruption by a wealthy elite.