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The Dutch authorities have announced that the country has decided to stop issuing visas to citizens of Russia.
Such a decision was taken after Russia expelled Dutch diplomats from the country, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
The Dutch Ambassador to Russia, Gilles Beschoor Plug, said that they are forced to stop issuing visas as the entire visa section staff, and many more have been expelled.
“As the government of Russia decided to expel the entire visa section (and more) of this embassy, we are forced to stop issuing visas. A tough and sad decision: I’m convinced that travelling, learning, and understanding the other’s perspective is so important to solve this crisis,” Plug wrote on his official Twitter account on April 26.
Nonetheless, the Dutch authorities have noted that despite taking such a decision, they still plan on issuing temporary residence permits and humanitarian visas. The authorities are yet to come out with an official statement regarding the exceptions that will apply.
Russia decided to expel 15 Dutch diplomats earlier this month. Plug said that Russia’s decision to expel Dutch diplomats is supposed to be a reaction to the Netherlands’ decision to expel 17 Russian intelligence officers from The Hague. However, according to him, there is a difference between the decisions of the two countries.
“Today, I was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to be told that 15 Dutch diplomats are expelled from Russia. This is supposed to be a reaction to our earlier expulsion from The Hague of 17 Russian intelligence officers. Well… there is a difference, and I don’t mean the numbers,” Plug said earlier in April.
Apart from deciding to expel Dutch diplomats, Russia has also closed the Estonian Embassy and consulates. In addition, the same declared persona non-grata the employees of the Estonian embassy. The decision of Russia to close and expel Estonian diplomats has been considered undesirable.
Through an official statement, the Estonian government said that Russia is violating international law and voluntary international commitments in the worst possible way.
In addition to the above-mentioned, Russia has also expelled 40 German diplomats. The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier this week that the country had decided to discontinue Germany’s ambassador in Moscow. Even though such a decision was expected, the German Foreign Ministry said that this was unjustifiable.
The German authorities reinstated once again that they decided to expel the Russian diplomats as they represented a threat to over 300,000 Ukrainians living in the country.
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