Ukraine on Friday sparked a new diplomatic row with Russia by expelling Moscow’s top envoy to a Black Sea region now governed by the pro-Western former president of Georgia.
The State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said Kiev had declared Moscow’s consulate general in Odessa “persona non grata” for conducting unnamed activities “incompatible” with his diplomatic work. “The security service will continue to identify foreigners who work against our government using their diplomatic status as cover,” the SBU said in a statement. It added that the unnamed Russian diplomat had already left Ukraine.
International law does not require Kiev to explain its decision to ask a country’s consular general to leave. The scenic southern port of Odessa was rocked last year by clashes between pro-Russian protesters and Kiev supporters that killed more than 40 people and briefly prompted fears of a possible military response from Russia.
Most of the victims were Moscow backers who died when a government building in which they took cover caught fire after being pelted by Molotov cocktails launched by a Ukrainian nationalist mob.