Moscow said on Thursday it would retaliate against a European Union decision to cut Russia’s diplomatic representation in Brussels, and that the move showed the EU did not deserve to take part in negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the EU decision to limit the size of the Russian mission to 40 people was “discriminatory” and would not go unanswered, Reuters reported.
The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, announced the measure against Russia on Monday during a press conference following an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting.
“We will not tolerate abuse of diplomatic power,” Kallas was quoted as saying in a statement at the time.
The EU has so far been sidelined in US-brokered peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, with no official EU delegates participating in the negotiations despite repeated appeals from European leaders.
No to Russian ‘war criminals’ roaming EU streets
The move to limit staff numbers is part of the EU’s broader effort to pressure Russia amid its ongoing war in Ukraine.
Kallas also said on Monday that the bloc was working on banning hundreds of thousands of former Russian soldiers from entering the Schengen Area, Europe’s border-free travel zone.
“We do not want war criminals and saboteurs to roam our streets,” the EU’s top diplomat said.
Kallas added that the bloc is “tightening the net” around Russia’s “shadow fleet” – a network of vessels used to bypass oil sanctions and suspected of carrying out sabotage operations against European nations.
The EU has also extended its list of individuals under sanctions over their role in the war in Ukraine.
This comes as senior US and Ukrainian officials met in Geneva on Thursday for preliminary discussions on ending the war and planning Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction, despite stalled talks with Russia.