Germany Expels Russian Diplomats

Germany's expulsion of Russian diplomats is a reaction to the Kremlin's hybrid threats

On 22 April, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported that Germany expelled more than 20 Russian diplomats and threatened Berlin with "mirror actions".

For its part, the German Foreign Ministry said that the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats was solely related to their spying activities. Germany stressed that the presence of Russian intelligence officers, who use their diplomatic immunity to recruit agents and informants to sabotage and spread disinformation in European countries, should be reduced in the country.

The expulsion of the Russian diplomats was Berlin's reaction to the activation of pro-Russian far-right and far-left parties, which the Kremlin through the Russian diplomats tried to consolidate to form an anti-government coalition. The aim of such a political formation was to gain a "majority in any level of elections" in Germany and to reset the "Left Party" and the "Alternative for Germany", with a view to them eventually declaring anti-Russian sanctions contrary to the interests of the German people.

In addition, the Kremlin has tried, with the help of some representatives of these political parties, to create anti-war sentiment in Europe and to weaken military support for Ukraine. To this end, they organised rallies in many German cities.

The Kremlin's use of peaceful protests to divide European society repeats a tactic first perfected during the Soviet era and brought back to the fore after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last February.

Russia's destructive activities in EU countries are obvious. Germany's lead in expelling Russian diplomats should be followed by other European Union countries to respond to the threat of the hybrid war that Moscow is now waging against the entire West.