Following a request from the government, forty diplomats and Russian embassy personnel were scheduled to depart Romania on Saturday, as relations between the two nations have deteriorated since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Eleven ambassadors and 29 technical and administrative personnel, along by their families, “will leave Romania on board a civilian aircraft belonging to a Russian airline,” according to the Romanian foreign ministry.
Romanian television showed an Ilyushin Il-96 plane landing at Bucharest International Airport. According to airport sources mentioned in the local news, it was scheduled to take off later that day.
The decision “reflects the current level of bilateral relations… following Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine,” according to the Romanian foreign ministry.
The request was submitted on June 8, and Moscow was given 30 days to comply.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, NATO member Romania, like other European countries, expelled Russian diplomats accused of spying. According to Bucharest, the Russian embassy’s staff has been reduced by more than half.
