Russia-Ukraine War: Germany, France to expel 75 Russian diplomats

The German government on Monday declared 40 Russian diplomats ‘undesirable persons,’ an act that is tantamount to expulsion from the country, Al Jazeera reported.

The announcement by foreign minister Annalena Baerbock follows similar moves by European partners in recent days as a reaction to Russia’s war on its neighbour Ukraine.

Also, France has said it would expel some Russian diplomats as part of a joint European action after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“France decided this evening to expel a number of Russian personnel with diplomatic status stationed in France whose activities are against our security interests,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

A French ministry source, who asked not to be named, according to AFP news agency, said 35 Russian diplomats would be expelled. Earlier on Monday, Lithuania expelled its Russian ambassador.

Ms Baerbock said Germany’s move was a response to the “unbelievable brutality” the Kremlin had unleashed in Ukraine.

“The images from Bucha speak to unbelievable brutality by the Russian leadership and by those who follow its propaganda with a boundless will to exterminate,” Ms Baerbock said, referring to the town near Kyiv where dozens of bodies were found in mass graves or littering the streets following the withdrawal of Russian forces.

Russia’s foreign ministry said it will respond to Germany’s decision to expel 40 Russian diplomats, the Interfax news agency reported.

The Kremlin has denied Western allegations that Russian forces were responsible for killing civilians in Bucha.

“This information must be seriously questioned,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “From what we have seen, our experts have identified signs of video falsification and other fakes.”

The Bucha Killings

Russia has been accused of a deliberate massacre in Bucha, a town near Kyiv where dozens of bodies were found in mass graves or littering the streets following the withdrawal of Russian forces.

Bucha had been under Russia’s siege until Ukraine reclaimed the city around March 30, 2022.

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia of carrying out a deliberate “massacre” in the town calling on the G7 to impose “devastating” new sanctions on Moscow.

However, Ms Baerbock said “similar images” could be found “in other places that Russian troops have occupied.”

She said it was essential to “stand up for our freedom and be prepared to defend it.”

“That is why the German government has decided to declare a significant number of staff of the Russian embassy, who have worked every day here in Germany against our freedom, against the cohesion of our society, as persona non grata,” she said.

She described the diplomats’ presence “as a threat” to the more than 300,000 Ukrainians who have sought protection in Germany since the invasion began.

“We will no longer tolerate that, we communicated that to the Russian ambassador this afternoon,” she said.

Ms Baerbock said Germany would take further steps “with our partners” including “imposing harsher sanctions on Russia, decisively expanding support for Ukraine’s fighting forces and bolstering NATO’s eastern flank.”

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Monday the evidence of civilian killings from Bucha was just the “tip of the iceberg” and showed the need for tougher sanctions on Moscow.

“Half measures are not enough anymore. I demand most severe sanctions this week, this is the plea of the victims of the rapes and killings. If you have doubts about sanctions go to Bucha first,” he said during a press conference with British foreign minister Liz Truss.

Russia’s February 24 invasion has left thousands of people dead, according to Ukrainian authorities, and forced more than 4 million Ukrainians to flee the country.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia has said the attack is aimed at eliminating a security threat and has demanded that Ukraine drop its bid to join NATO, which Kyiv is now considering.

U.S. stops Russian bond payment

The United States has stopped the Russian government from paying holders of its sovereign debt more than $600 million from reserves held at American banks, Al Jazeera is reporting.

This is a move meant to ratchet up pressure on Moscow and eat into its holdings of U.S. dollars.

Although the economic sanctions earlier placed on Russia after it attacked Ukraine, froze its foreign currency reserves held in U.S. financial institutions, the U.S. Department of Treasury had been allowing the Russian government to use those funds to make coupon payments on dollar-denominated sovereign debt on a case-by-case basis.

On Monday, the largest of the payments came due, including a $552.4 million principal payment on a maturing bond. The U.S. government decided to cut off Moscow’s access to the frozen funds, according to a U.S. Treasury spokesperson.

An $84 million coupon payment was also due on Monday on a 2042 sovereign dollar bond.

The move was meant to force Moscow to make the difficult decision of whether it would use dollars that it has access to for payments on its debt or for other purposes, including supporting its war effort, the spokesperson said.

“Russia must choose between draining remaining valuable dollar reserves or new revenue coming in, or default,” the spokesperson said.

U.S., UK call for suspension of Russia from UN Rights Council

The United States says it plans to ask the UN General Assembly to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council, Al Jazeera is reporting.

The request by U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, on a visit to Romania, comes after Ukraine accused Russian troops of killing dozens of civilians in the town of Bucha.

“Russia’s participation on the Human Rights Council is a farce,” Ms Thomas-Greenfield said.

“And it is wrong, which is why we believe it is time the UN General Assembly voted to remove them.”

A two-thirds majority vote by the 193-member assembly in New York can suspend a state for persistently committing gross and systematic violations of human rights.

Ms Thomas-Greenfield said she wants to have the vote this week.

The United Kingdom has backed Washington’s effort to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council over the killings in Ukraine’s Bucha.

“Given strong evidence of war crimes, including reports of mass graves and heinous butchery in Bucha, Russia cannot remain a member of the UN Human Rights Council. Russia must be suspended,” Al Jazeera quoted British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss as saying.

Responding to the call for its suspension, Russia’s Ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said, “what the West is trying to do with Russia, trying to exclude it from multilateral forums we are having in the world … this is unprecedented.”

“This is unbelievable,” he said. Adding that “this will not facilitate or encourage or be helpful to what is happening between Russian and Ukrainians in peace talks,” he added.