On Thursday 29 March, Slovenia decided to recall its ambassador in Moscow for consultation – as Bulgaria, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia and Luxembourg have also done in recent days with their own ambassadors. These decisions follow on from the decision of the European Council on 22 March to coordinate the European responses (see EUROPE 11987).
On 26 March, European Council President Donald Tusk announced that 14 member states were going to expel their Russian diplomats (see EUROPE 11989). They now number 19. In addition to the UK, which expelled 23 diplomats, France, Germany and Poland announced the expulsion of four diplomats each, the Czech Republic and Lithuania three each, Denmark, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands two each and Estonia, Latvia, Romania, Finland, Sweden, Hungary, Belgium, Croatia and Ireland one each.
By contrast, Austria has not taken any measures thus far, saying that it is a "neutral country", "a builder of bridges between the east and the west" that wants "to keep the (communication) channels open". It is reported to be the same for Greece and Cyprus.
Other countries have also announced the expulsion of Russian diplomats, including the USA (60 including from the UN), Ukraine (13), Canada (4), Moldova (3), Australia (2) and Norway, Georgia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania (one each). NATO has decided to expel seven members from the Russian mission and three further requests for accreditation have been refused. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)