North Macedonia expels 3 Russian diplomats, Russian Foreign Ministry to retaliate

MOSCOW. Sept 15 (Interfax) - North Macedonia's decision to declare three Russian diplomats personae non gratae will be retaliated, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

"The irresponsible and hostile move by the authorities of North Macedonia will not remain unanswered," the ministry's spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

The three employees of the Russian embassy in Skopje were declared personae non gratae on September 12 "without explanation", she said.

"We state that the North Macedonian authorities continue moving down a path of exacerbating confrontation, driving into a deadlock the bilateral relations that are already in deep crisis. The decision to expel our colleagues is seen by us as an inappropriate desire by the country's leadership to demonstrate yet again to their Western curators the significance of countering the supposed 'Russian threat'," Zakharova's comment on the expulsion, published on the ministry's website, said.