ZAGREB, October 4. /TASS/: The Foreign Ministry of North Macedonia believes that declaring as persona non grata a staffer of the North Macedonian embassy in Moscow cannot be justified in a retaliation for a similar measure against a Russian diplomat, the Foreign Ministry reported on Monday.
"The decision of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to expel a diplomat who was recently delegated to the Russian Federation is a retaliatory political decision without any grounds," the Ministry said. The diplomatic department clarified that during the expulsion of the Russian diplomat, allegedly registered evidence of his actions in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations was presented. "Therefore, today's move by the Russian side is completely unjustified and will negatively affect attempts to strengthen relations between the two countries," the Foreign Ministry concluded.
As previously reported in the Russian Foreign Ministry, on October 4, the charge d'affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia in Russia Olivera Chaushevska-Dimovska was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry to be handed the ministry's note to the effect a staffer of the North Macedonian embassy in Moscow had been declared as persona non grata. This measure is in retaliation for the North Macedonian side's unfounded decision to declare a diplomat of the Russian embassy in Skopje as persona non grata in August.
On June 10, Chausevska-Dimovska was handed a note saying a staffer of the North Macedonian embassy in Moscow had been declared persona non grata. It was a tit-for-tat response for the North Macedonian side's decision to declare a diplomat of the Russian embassy in Skopje as persona non grata.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said "the North Macedonian administration continues to move along a road of confrontation, without paying attention to the fact that such steps harm bilateral relations".
