Croatia to expel Russian diplomats

Belgrade, April 7 ( /Sputnik) Croatia plans to expel Russian diplomats from the embassy in Zagreb due to Moscow’s special operation in Ukraine, Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grliс Radman said. “We will do this out of solidarity and as a reaction to what is happening, to these terrible pictures from Bucha and other Ukrainian regions,” Radman said on the sidelines of NATO summit in Brussels, answering the question on possibility of expelling Russian diplomats. Earlier in the day, the Greek Foreign Ministry declared 12 employees of Russian diplomatic and consular missions accredited in Greece as personae non gratae, in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 and Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963. Earlier this week, the European on and individual countries, including Germany, France, Spain and Italy, decided to expel Russian diplomats amid recent reports of alleged atrocities in the Ukrainian city of Bucha, which Moscow called a staged provocation. Over the weekend, reports emerged of mass civilian killings in Bucha, a town near Kiev controlled by Russian forces until recently. Kiev blamed the civilian deaths on the departed Russian forces. The Russian Defense Ministry said that all photos and videos were a staged “provocation” as the Russian forces had completely withdrawn from the town as early as March 30. On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian provocations. In response to Russia’s operation, Western countries have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow. /SPUTNIK GNK