VIENNA- Austria is expelling four Russian diplomats, including two accredited with the United Nations in Vienna, the foreign ministry said on Thursday. The diplomats are alleged to have acted “in a manner incompatible with their diplomatic status,” the ministry said, adding they had until February 8 to leave the country. Diplomatic expulsions are rare in neutral Austria, which enjoyed close relations with Russia before Moscow invaded Ukraine. In April 2022, Austria expelled four Russian diplomats as part of a coordinated EU reaction after the discovery of alleged killings by Russian troops of Ukrainian civilians in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha.
Before that, Austria expelled a Russian diplomat accused of espionage in April 2020.The country of nine million has traditionally seen itself as a bridge between the East and West.
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