Ukraine expels 13 Russian diplomats in protest of Skripal poisoning

The Ukrainian government joined its Western
counterparts in announcing the expulsion of Russian diplomats on March 26 in
protest of their government’s alleged poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei
Skripal in England early this month. “In the spirit of solidarity with our
British partners and transatlantic allies, and in coordination with EU
member-states, Ukraine decided to expel 13 Russian diplomats from the few who
remained here,” Ukrainian President Poroshenko said on his Facebook page that
day. He added, “The next step is raising the cost for Moscow for committing
international crimes, including tightening personal, finance and economics
sanctions.” The United Kingdom expelled 23 Russian diplomats on March 14 in
response to the alleged poisoning, while 18 Western countries ejected more than
100 diplomats on March 26, including 60 expelled by the U.S. government.

In response to the expulsions, the Russian government
accused Western nations of starting a “diplomatic war” without any proof of the
Russian government’s involvement, also revealing its methods. “No longer will
there be any evidence, judicial rulings, resolutions by competent bodies or any
other appearance, at least, of some kind of legality or procedurality,”
Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the Federation Council international affairs
committee, wrote in a March 26 column published on the iz.ru news site. “If
they have decided that it’s ‘highly likely’ that Russia was involved – using
British Prime Minister Theresa May’s words – then that’s more than enough.”

Zenon Zawada:
Unfortunately, this latest escalation in tensions between the West and Russia
only means that Russian aggression against Ukraine will continue since the
Ukrainian territory has become the battlefield upon which the Russia-West
conflict is playing itself out. We don’t see any milepost ahead that would
offer hope in easing the conflict, let alone resolving it. That includes the
current talks for a UN peacekeeping mission to resolve the warfare in Donbas,
which we don’t expect will result in success.