Ukraine, allies engage in war of words and diplomacy with Russia

Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Yenin
announced on April 18 that a Russian diplomat was being expelled from Ukraine.
In an interview on Ukraine 24 TV channel, he explained that the move comes
after the Ukrainian consul in St. Petersburg was detained by Russian police for
several hours and then told to leave the country. Yenin also stated that
Ukraine was not breaking diplomatic relations completely because of the
hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who “are forced to visit the aggressor
state” for reasons such as family relations.

The move comes as Czech Republic expelled 18 Russian diplomats
on April 17 for aiding and abetting the blowing up of two arms stockpiles
headed for Ukraine in 2014. The Czech government claimed that the stockpiles
were blown up by Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov, the Russian intelligence
agents who are also accused of using the nerve agent novichok against former
KGB agent Sergei Skripal in 2018. Russia has responded by expelling 20 Czech
diplomats.

The United States also sent 10 Russian diplomats
packing on April 15 as part of a punishment for Russian cyber attacks; Russia
responded on April 16 by expelling 10 American diplomats and five Polish
diplomats, canceling a variety of travel privileges and adding travel bans.

After the Friday meeting of French President Emmanuel
Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Macron stated that clear red
lines need to be drawn regarding Russia. Online media pravda.com.ua reports
that in an interview with the American broadcaster CBS on April 16, Macron said
that the failure to do so when Ukraine was attacked was “a failure of our
collective authority over Russia.”

James Hydzik: Macron’s meeting with Zelensky came amid a shifting European security
environment. The imminent departure of Angela Merkel leaves Macron as the
senior statesman of continental politics. The about-face of the Americans
vis-a-vis Russia has fostered the change as well. In this light, the diplomatic
expulsions are not just a series of tit-for-tat moves. They signal a genuine
deterioration of diplomacy with the Russians.