Russia declares Ukrainian diplomat persona non grata

Moscow has declared an employee of Ukraine's Consulate General in St. Petersburg persona non grata in response to similar actions taken by Kyiv against a Russian diplomat, Russian news agency TASS has reported, quoting the Russian Foreign Ministry.

"In response to a similar unfriendly and unmotivated move by Kyiv, the Russian side was forced to declare an employee of the Consulate General of Ukraine in St. Petersburg persona non grata on a reciprocal basis," the ministry said.

On August 13, Ukraine's SBU Security Service said it had exposed in Lviv region a local resident who was collecting intelligence for the Russian special services and passed it to a Russian intelligence officer who "worked" under the diplomatic cover of the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Lviv.

The SBU said that "for activities incompatible with the status of a consular officer, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry declared a spy diplomat persona non grata."

"He has already left the territory of Ukraine," the SBU said.

op