Russia slams diplomat’s expulsion from Montenegro as episode of West’s hybrid campaign

Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that the attempt to substantiate this step in a corresponding public commentary laid bare the absence of the reasons and logic of this demarche

Moscow views the expulsion of a Russian diplomat from Montenegro as a new episode of the hybrid campaign unleashed by the West against Russia, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday.

"We view the act by the Montenegrin authorities as yet another episode of the hybrid campaign unleashed by the West and its minions against Russia. We perceive this move as the unwillingness and the inability of official Podgorica to get away from the policy of mechanically following this destructive line - to the detriment of international security and, likewise, its own national interests," the diplomat said.

The attempt to substantiate this step in a corresponding public commentary laid bare the absence of the reasons and logic of this demarche, Zakharova stressed.

"We reserve the right to take measures in kind in accordance with the generally accepted practice," the spokeswoman said.

On August 12, Montenegro declared a Russian diplomat persona non grata. On April 7, the Montenegrin Foreign Ministry declared personae non grata four Russian diplomats who were ordered to leave the country within seven days. On May 31, Russia retaliated by declaring an employee of the Montenegrin Embassy in Moscow persona non grata.