Vita gazette – Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio announced in Berlin that Italy expelled 30 Russian diplomats. He said: “30 Russian diplomats expelled from Italy for reasons of national security”. He explained the reason for this decision as “the precaution taken in agreement with other European and Atlantic partners”.

Minister Maio stated: “This measure, adopted in agreement with other European and Atlantic partners, became necessary for reasons related to our national security, in the context of the current crisis situation deriving from the unjustified aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. Italy is ready to act as a guarantor of security and peace in Ukraine and we will do everything necessary to manage this activity”.

“Russia will give an adequate response,” Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, told reporters, announcing in Moscow that “it will expel Italian diplomats”.