Russia Expels 2 German Diplomats over Spat with Berlin

Russia expelled two German diplomats, on Monday, in response to a spat with Berlin over a park assassination.

This came in response to the German court's ruling that Moscow had ordered the 2019 assassination of an ex-Chechen commander in a Berlin park.

"The German ambassador was informed that two diplomatic employees of the German embassy in Russia were declared 'persona non grata' as a symmetrical response," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement without clarifying when the German diplomats needed to leave Russia.

In addition, the ministry pointed out that it had registered a "strong protest" with the German envoy over Berlin's expulsion of two Russian diplomats last week.

On the other hand, the German government criticized the expulsions as aggravating already fragile relations between Berlin and Moscow.

"This move comes as no surprise, but it is completely unwarranted from the federal government's perspective," Germany's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "Today's decision by Russia's Foreign Ministry puts renewed strain on the relationship."

Last week, judges in Berlin sentenced Russian national Vadim Krasikov, alias Vadim Sokolov, to life in jail after convicting him of gunning down Georgian national Tornike Kavtarashvili, 40, in a Berlin park in 2019.