Moscow, Europe ‘have option’ to replace expelled diplomats – Russia’s EU ambassador

The possibility to replace Russian diplomats expelled from countries of the European Union exists everywhere, except for Moscow’s mission to NATO, Russia’s EU Ambassador Vladimir Chizhov said on Thursday. “We have an option to replace diplomats everywhere, with the exception of one foreign mission – the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to NATO, as the decision on it was to cut the personnel,” TASS quoted Chizhov as saying. “I think we will have replacements” in the EU and in Russia, said the diplomat, who is taking part in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. It will depend “on each concrete state” when the replacements could happen, he added. After Sergei Skripal, a former Russian-UK double agent, was poisoned together with his daughter Yulia in Salisbury on March 4, Britain and its allies expelled dozens of Russian diplomats. Moscow sent home a similar number in a mirror response.