Spain will expel around 25 Russian diplomats and embassy staff over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, following similar moves by Germany and France, Spain’s foreign minister said Tuesday.
“The unbearable images we have seen of the massacre of civilians in the town of Bucha after the withdrawal of the Russian army deeply outrage us,” Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said in a reference to a town outside Kyiv.
The Russian diplomats and staff “represent a threat to the interest of the country” and they will be expelled “immediately”, he told a news conference following a weekly cabinet meeting.
“We are talking about a group of around 25 people, we are completing the list,” he said.
Horrific images of corpses lying in the streets in the town of Bucha, some with their hands bound behind them, following the Russian withdrawal have drawn international condemnation of Russia, and the EU is considering additional sanctions.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russian troops of being behind the killings but the Kremlin has denied any responsibility and suggested images of corpses were “fakes”.
On Monday, France expelled 35 Russian diplomats, and Germany announced it had expelled a “significant number” of Russian envoys.
Denmark said Tuesday it is expelling 15 Russian “intelligence officers” registered as diplomats in the country
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© Agence France-Presse
