Moscow expelled eight Greek diplomats describing them as “personae non-gratae”, giving them eight days to leave the country, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

According to Reuters, the Russian Foreign Minister summoned the Greek ambassador to give explanations on the “deteriorating”, as the Duma characterises it, “course of Greek-Russian relations, in light of the military aid from Athens to Kyiv.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova attacked the stance of Greece on the Ukraine conflict on her Telegram account, saying Russia helped Greece’s independence against the Ottoman Empire and Greece expelled Russian diplomats in April

Through her Telegram account, Zakharova linked the deportation of diplomats to US Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland’s visit to Greece at the same time. On April 6, the Foreign Ministry announced that 12 members of Russia’s diplomatic and consular missions in Greece were being expelled and classified them as personae non-gratae in Greece.

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The representative of the Russian Foreign Minister also spoke about the relations between the two countries, noting that “the Greek state, which was created thanks to the help of Russia with the first leader being the Russian Foreign Minister, was left without diplomatic relations with our country.”

“And this despite the fact that we share the faith with the Greeks, we inherit the same tradition and in general we have never refused to help our Greek friends”, she stressed, recalling last year’s help in extinguishing the fires.

The Greek Foreign Ministry issued a statement claiming the expulsion of the Greek diplomats was baseless. “We express our deep regret for the decision of the Russian authorities to declare eight officials of the Greek Embassy in Moscow, as well as the Consulate General in Moscow, as personae non-gratae.

There is no basis for the decision of the Russian authorities to expel members of the Greek diplomatic and consular authorities to Russia, who, distinguished by their professionalism and high sense of responsibility, performed their duties in accordance with the provisions of the Vienna Conventions”.