Russia is expelling a member of the staff of the Lithuanian embassy in Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
Jurgita Cibulskienė, Lithuania’s acting chargé d’affaires in Moscow, was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday and was informed that one of the Lithuanian embassy’s staff members was declared persona non grata and had to leave Russia within five days.
The ministry said in a statement that the move comes in response to an “unjustified” expulsion of an employee of the Russian Embassy in Vilnius on December 1.
On December 1, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian envoy and handed a letter declaring one of Moscow’s diplomats persona non grata. The person was allegedly engaged in “activities incompatible with the status of a diplomat”.
This was the fourth case of Russian diplomats being expelled from the country since the start of the Russian war in Ukraine.
Since the start of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, diplomatic relations between Lithuania and Russia have been downgraded to the level of acting chargés d’affaires.
Back in May, Lithuania’s president recalled the country’s ambassador Eitvydas Bajarūnas from Moscow. Vilnius has also sent away Moscow’s ambassador Alexei Isakov and closed down Russia’s consulate in Klaipėda.
In response, Russia closed down Lithuania’s consulate in Saint Petersburg.
CORRECTION: The earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Jurgita Cibulskienė was expelled from Russia.
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