Eight European Union foreign ministers have called on the EU to ban Russian diplomats from moving freely around the bloc and restrict them to countries where they are accredited.
In a letter to EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell seen by Reuters, dated 11 June, the ministers stated that the “free movement of holders of Russian diplomatic and service passports, accredited in one host state, across the whole Schengen area is easing malign activities.”
The ministers, from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, and Romania, said that intelligence, propaganda “or even preparation of sabotage acts are the main workload for a large number of Russian ‘diplomats’ in the EU.“
While expulsions were acknowledged as important, the letter stated that the threat remained.
“We believe the EU should strictly follow the reciprocity principle and restrict the movement of members of Russian diplomatic missions and their family members to territory of a state of their accreditation only,” the ministers said, adding that “this measure will significantly narrow operational space for Russian agents.”
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