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Germany, France and Poland have expelled four diplomats each, respective foreign ministries confirmed on Monday. The Netherlands and Denmark will expel two diplomats each, their foreign ministries said.The Russian Embassy's call for restraint and common sense has fallen on deaf ears:
Italy is expelling two Russian diplomats, while Lithuania has expelled three, according to that country's foreign minister. The Czech Republic will expel the same number.
Meanwhile, Latvia is expelling one diplomat and an Aeroflot employee, and Estonia's foreign minister has confirmed the country is expelling a military attaché at the Russian embassy. Finland is expelling one diplomat.
Ukraine has also jumped on board and announced it is expelling as many as 13 diplomats.
"They have already put all the blame on us while the investigation is still ongoing and the results are yet to be published... Moreover, they go the extra mile and suggest to punish Russia," the embassy said. "Time after time we keep proving that every lunge against us will be parried tit-for-tat. Every suggestion to 'punish Russia' is a suggestion to at least self-inflict a wound."Oh well, just another indelible stain on the U.S. and UK's already tainted reputation. As the Russians point out, they're really hurting no one but themselves in the long run.
Speaking to Sputnik following the announcements by various EU and other European countries, Austrian government spokesman Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal said that Vienna "will not take any measures at the national level, we will not expel diplomats.
"The reason for this is that we intend to keep open channels of dialogue with Russia. Austria is a neutral country and a kind of bridge between East and West. But we support the decision to recall the EU ambassador from Moscow."
Other countries were already exercising caution before the Monday announcements. Ahead of a meeting with Theresa May at a European Council summit dinner in Brussels last week, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras stressed the need for an investigation into the Skripal case before jumping to conclusions. "We have to express our solidarity to the UK, to the British people, but at the same time we need to investigate," Tsipras said.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, a former criminal lawyer, said he wanted to hear what May had to say at the summit before making a decision.
Meanwhile, the head of Germany's Die Linke party, Andreas Maurer, told Sputnik that the German position on the case of Sergei Skripal should not have been solely guided by Berlin's solidarity with the European Union. Berlin chose to expel four Russian diplomats.
"I am looking now, that the Foreign Minister of Germany [Heiko Maas] is talking about the decision as a sign of solidarity - this decision on the part of Germany to send out four diplomats. This is of course, in my opinion, you have to very critically look at this. In this regard, the decision should not be taken because of some sort of solidarity. Whatever problems or errors there may have been, the position of Germany should not have been built upon solidarity," Maurer said.
Maurer went on to note that Russia would respond with the expulsion of diplomats from all of those countries, adding that such moves will not lead to a normalization of ties. "We all know that Russia is obliged to reply to the expulsion of its diplomats. I am certain that German diplomats, which are now in Russia, will also be expelled from the country. We know that this always happens. This will not lead to solving the problem," he said.
Spies, conspirators, dodgy rulers, esoteric manipulations . . . some of the more recent history of the games at play behind the facade of the ruling classes, monarchy and systematic imperialism that so many seem so preoccupied with...
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