Expulsion: Austria Declares Four Russian Diplomats as "Personae Non Gratae"
Now Austria is joining the trend of European sanctions against Russian diplomats, expelling three members of the Russian Embassy in Vienna and one member of the Russian Consulate General in Salzburg.
Austria has declared 4 Russian diplomats as "personae non gratae". Corresponding retaliatory measures on the part of the Kremlin are to be expected within a few days. / Picture: © Vindobona.org
According to the daily newspaper "Die Presse", the Austrian Foreign Ministry announces that it feels obliged to revoke the diplomatic status of four Russian diplomats.
The individuals have committed acts incompatible with their diplomatic status and are therefore declared personae non gratae under Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, it states, according to "Die Presse".
Specifically, these are three members of the Russian Embassy in Vienna and one member of the Russian Consulate General in Salzburg.
The Russian diplomats must leave Austria by April 12.
According to "Die Presse", the Austrian Foreign Ministry's statement reads as follows: "The Austrian Foreign Ministry announces that it feels compelled to revoke the diplomatic status of three members of the Russian Embassy in Vienna and one member of the Russian Consulate General in Salzburg. The individuals have engaged in acts incompatible with their diplomatic status and are therefore declared personae non gratae (undesirable persons) under Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The affected members of the Russian Embassy in Vienna and the member of the Russian Consulate General in Salzburg are ordered to leave the federal territory no later than the end of April 12, 2022."
According to the analysis of "Die Presse" based on the data of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a total of 146 people are bilaterally accredited in Austria. Of these, 68 people are accredited as diplomats, 75 people are accredited as administrative-technical staff in Vienna and three people are accredited as professional consuls in Vienna.
In addition, 144 diplomats are accredited to the Mission at the international organizations and the OSCE, which adds up to a total of 290 persons.
Conversely, Austria has accredited 33 persons to its Moscow Embassy. These are 15 diplomats, eleven members of specialized departments and seven administrative-technical staff, writes "Die Presse".
Corresponding retaliatory measures on the part of the Kremlin are to be expected within a few days.
The foreign policy spokesman of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), Axel Kassegger, criticized the expulsions in a dispatch, saying "Austria is thus finally tearing down the last bridge of diplomacy."
"With the revocation of the diplomatic status of three members of the Russian Embassy in Vienna and one member of the Consulate General in Salzburg, Austria is now finally tearing down the 'last remaining bridge of diplomacy'."
"Precisely because Austria is a neutral country, the foreign minister should not have cut this narrow path of communication. On the contrary, Schallenberg should have tried to bring Russia and Ukraine to Austria for peace negotiations in order to be able to end this condemnable war, which brings immeasurable suffering to the people, at the negotiating table. Due to its neutral status, Austria would have been the ideal place for diplomacy and negotiations, but with this step now taken today, the Foreign Minister has squandered the last chance to do so," criticized Kassegger.
"In principle, we are against such ill-conceived sanctions, with which Austria only cuts its own flesh. What is needed is a sustainable foundation for a future peace solution that is acceptable to both parties, and this should actually have been the necessary homework as well as the primary goal of neutral Austria," underscored Kassegger.