MOSCOW — Russia
has deported several Polish and one German diplomat in recent days, the
latest in a series of tit-for-tat expulsions that have come along with mounting tensions between Russia and European governments over the crisis in Ukraine.
The
Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Monday that “a number of Polish
diplomats” were being sent home in retaliation for the “unfriendly and
unfounded” expulsion of Russian diplomats from Poland this month.
Separately,
the German government said on Monday that one of its diplomats had been
asked to leave Russia in what it called a “retaliatory measure,”
confirming a report in Der Spiegel over the weekend.
Relations
between Russia and the West are at their worst since the Cold War,
despite the tentative cease-fire between the Ukrainian government and
the pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s southeast. Fighting has
continued to simmer there, and each side has accused the other of
repeatedly violating the agreement.
Meanwhile,
Western governments have imposed sanctions on Russia for its seizure of
Crimea and its support for the rebels, and Moscow has retaliated with
import bans on some Western products.
The
rhetorical temperature has been rising. President Petro O. Poroshenko
of Ukraine said in an interview with the German newspaper Bild that
though Ukraine prefers peace, it is “prepared for a scenario of total
war.”
For his part, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia told the German television station ARD in an interview released on Sunday
that he was concerned about “ethnic cleansings” in Ukraine and the
possibility that the country could become “a neo-Nazi state.” He said
that Russia would not allow Ukraine “to annihilate everyone there, all
of their political foes and opponents,” suggesting that the Russian
military could carry on more covert incursions into eastern Ukraine.
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany warned in a speech in Sydney, Australia, on Monday that the mounting frictions could have grave consequences.
Stressing
the importance of learning the lessons from the world wars that
devastated the Continent, Ms. Merkel said that “old-fashioned thinking
in spheres of influence, where international rights are being trampled,
cannot continue.”
According
to a copy of her speech released by her office in Berlin, Ms. Merkel
noted that “there are still powers in Europe that refuse reciprocal
respect and conflict resolution through democratic means that follow the
rule of the law, that count on the alleged right of the strong and
disregard the strength of the law.” She added, “This is exactly what
happened at the beginning of the year, when Russia annexed Crimea in
violation of international law.”
Ms.
Merkel lamented the damage that had been done to “the friendship that
has been established between Russia and Germany in the past 10 to 15
years,” relations that she said were “a good foundation for the
development of relations, not only between our two states, but also
between Russia and Europe as a whole.”
“It will be a pity if we let it go to waste,” she said.
NATO Reports Increased Russian Troop Movement
More than two months into a shaky cease-fire, NATO reported
significant new Russian troop movements into Ukraine. NATO’s top
military commander said that convoys of tanks, artillery and combat
troops were streaming over the border, in what appeared to be
preparations for renewed military action. View full graphic »
European Union
officials said on Monday that they will probably broaden the union’s
sanctions against individual leaders of the pro-Russian rebellion, but
that new economic sanctions against Russia seemed unlikely at the
moment.
The diplomatic expulsions have often come with direct or veiled accusations of spying.
The
Russian Foreign Ministry statement about the Polish diplomats on Monday
said they were being deported “for activity incompatible with their
status.” It did not give specifics about the expelled diplomats, but an
official in the Polish Foreign Ministry said they were three military
attaches and one employee in the embassy’s political section.
The
official, speaking on the condition of anonymity under the ministry’s
rules, said Poland had expelled equivalent people from the Russian
embassy in Warsaw several weeks ago. “We expected Russians to respond in
exactly the same manner, and so they did,” the official said. “As far
as we are concerned, the case is closed.”
Poland
deported the four Russian diplomats in connection with the arrests of a
Polish Army officer and a Russian-born lawyer. Marek Biernacki,
Poland’s minister of justice, said both men were spies for the Main
Intelligence Directorate, Russia’s largest foreign intelligence agency.
The
German case was similar. The report in Der Spiegel said Germany had
expelled a Russian diplomat for spying while stationed at the Russian
consulate in Bonn, prompting the Russians to send a German diplomat
home.
“We
deeply regret this unjustified action, and have made this clear to the
Russian government,” said a German government official who did not give
his name, in keeping with policy regarding sensitive diplomatic issues.
He declined to give any further information.
Russia
has leveled spying accusations of its own. On Saturday, a report on
Russian state television claimed that Aleksejs Holostovs, a former
member of the Latvian Parliament, had been expelled from Russia. In the
report, Mr. Holostovs said he was sent to Russia to spy for Latvia’s
intelligence services, which he said were controlled by the C.I.A.
Russia
has also claimed to have arrested an Estonian intelligence officer,
Eston Kohver, on Russian soil carrying $6,000 in cash and a Taurus
pistol. Estonia has said that Russian agents crossed the border under
the cover of smoke grenades and electronic jamming to abduct Mr. Kohver.
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