Eye for an eye: Russia intends to expel two German diplomats

(Patria) – Russian authorities announced on Thursday that they intend to expel two German diplomats as a retaliatory strike against German authorities who expelled two Russian diplomats last week on suspicion of involvement in an assassination.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced via its Facebook profile that the two German diplomats have been declared persona non grata and have 7 days to leave the country.

The statement also stated that the ministry "strongly opposed the unfounded decision" to expel the Russian diplomats.

The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded that it regrets the decision of the Russian government, which "sends the wrong signal and is not justified".

Tensions between the two countries have been rising since an activist of Russian-Georgian origin was killed in Berlin in August, for which German authorities suspect Russian or Chechen involvement.

- There is sufficient evidence that the murder was carried out by either state agencies of the Russian Federation or the Autonomous Republic of Chechnya as part of the Russian Federation, German authorities emphasized in early December in a statement also issued by the German Embassy in Moscow.

While Germany resents Moscow for the lack of cooperation in the investigation, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated at a joint press conference last week in Paris that the victim of the assassination, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, fought on the side of anti-Russian separatists.

- He is a cruel and bloodthirsty person. In a single attack he participated in, he killed 98 people. He was one of the organizers of the explosions in the Moscow metro, Putin stated, adding that Russia's request for his extradition had been rejected.

Official Berlin confirmed that it believes that "Tornike K. was indeed involved in military conflicts with the Russian Federation", fighting with Chechen militants from 2000 to 2004, and on behalf of the Georgian government in August 2008, in a unit designated for the defense of South Ossetia.

German authorities also denied knowing about the Russian extradition request, while Merkel stated that during the meeting in Paris, she told her Russian counterpart that she expected his cooperation with investigators, writes Euronews.