The Russian Foreign Ministry does not comment on the publication of the French newspaper Les Echos, which spread rumors that a secret mutual expulsion of Russian and French diplomats took place last year. The reaction of the department on Saturday, March 6, became known to TASS.
“We are not commenting,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
At the same time, the agency has not yet been able to get a comment from the French Foreign Ministry.
The French edition of Les Echos previously reported that Russia and France at the end of 2020 secretly expelled from their capitals one diplomat of the other side. According to sources, one of the heads of the economic department of the Russian embassy in Paris was caught committing an act of espionage, after which France expelled him. Russia took a symmetrical step. At the same time, the process took place in the strictest secrecy.
Moscow in early February announced the expulsion of three foreign diplomats for participating in unauthorized rallies in support of the founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK, included by the Ministry of Justice in the register of organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent) Alexei Navalny. Diplomats from Poland, Sweden and Germany were summoned to the ministry and protested over their participation in the January 23 rallies. On February 2, the Simonovsky Court of Moscow replaced Navalny's suspended sentence with a real one for violating the conditions for observing the probationary period in the Yves Rocher case.
