July 22 (SeeNews) - The Russian government said on Friday it has included Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, as well as Denmark and Slovakia in the list of countries that have taken unfriendly actions towards Russian diplomatic and consular missions abroad.
The executive order restricts, including the imposition of a complete ban if necessary, the ability of unfriendly countries to hire people residing in Russia for their embassies, consulates and representative offices of their governments, the Russian government said in a press release.
Besides the five countries, the list specifies the number of private individuals residing in Russia with whom the diplomatic and consular missions of unfriendly countries may sign labour contracts. The limit is 34 people for Greece, 20 for Denmark and 16 for Slovakia. Slovenia and Croatia may not hire employees for their diplomatic and consular offices.
In May 2021, similar restrictions were approved for the diplomatic offices of the United States and the Czech Republic, according to the press release.
In April, Croatia asked 18 Russian diplomats at the Russian embassy to Zagreb to leave the country, the Croatian ministry of foreign and European affairs said at the time.
It also said back then that Croatia urged Russia to cease all military activities in Ukraine immediately and withdraw its troops from the entire Ukrainian territory, and to secure evacuation routes and humanitarian corridors. Croatia expects that those responsible for war crimes be brought to justice.
The Slovenian foreign ministry reduced the number of staff at the Russian embassy in Ljubljana from 41 to 8 in early April. Unlike other EU countries, it did not formally expel all Russian diplomats, Euractive reported.
In late June, Russia declared eight Greek diplomats “personae non gratae” and gave them eight days to leave the country.