The Kremlin has criticized the mass expulsions of Russian diplomats from European Union countries - part of the West's response to brutal civilian killings in Ukraine - calling the moves "short-sighted."
"Restricting the possibilities for diplomatic communication and diplomatic work under such unprecedentedly difficult and crisis-ridden conditions is a short-sighted step," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, according to the Interfax agency.
The Italian, Portuguese, Danish and Swedish governments joined a growing list of EU countries to kick out Russian diplomatic staff on Tuesday, as pressure ratchets up against Moscow after pictures of hundreds of dead civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha shocked the world. The town had until recently been occupied by Russian forces.
Peskov announced Russia would take countermeasures against the diplomatic expulsions.
Italy expelled 30 Russian diplomats from the embassy in Rome, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio announced, citing both national security grounds and Russia's "unjustified" war.
Spain, meanwhile, ordered out of the country "at least 25" people working at the Russian embassy in Madrid.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said this was a direct response to the "horrible incidents in Ukraine," but also noted that the people being told to leave represented "a threat to the security interests" of Spain.
The Foreign Ministry in Lisbon said 10 people, who have "endangered national security," must leave Portugal within two weeks.
Denmark said it was giving 15 Russian intelligence officials who were working under diplomatic cover two weeks to leave the country. Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said no Russian espionage on Danish soil would be accepted.
The Foreign Ministry in Copenhagen said that the expulsions did not mean it intends to cut diplomatic ties with Moscow. The Russian ambassador and the rest of his embassy staff are not affected by the expulsion.
Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said three Russian envoys would be expelled for not working in Sweden in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
She did not rule out that further expulsions could follow.
Estonia and Latvia have each ordered the closure of two Russian consulates each as the scale of the atrocities carried out by the Russian military against civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha became apparent.
The government in Tallinn ordered the Russian missions in the cities of Narva and Tartu to close, while Russian consulates in the Latvian cities of Daugavpils and Liepaja were ordered to close by the government in Riga.
The orders will mean that numerous Russian diplomats will now have to leave the Baltic states. Estonia declared 14 diplomats undesirables, while Latvia expelled 13 - in both cases they have until April 30 to leave.
Slovenia expelled 33 Russian diplomats, the STA news agency reported citing the Foreign Ministry, and 10 diplomats will have to leave Romania, according to the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest.
On Monday, Germany announced it was expelling 40 Russian diplomats whom Berlin assumes are actually members of Russian intelligence services.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the move was also in response to the "unbelievable brutality on the part of the Russian leadership" and those who followed their propaganda.
On Tuesday, Moscow said Baerbock is cultivating an "aggressive anti-Russian line" charged with particular cynicism.
This was an unprecedented action with the aim of "destroying a whole complex of bilateral relations," and bordering on "hate propaganda," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.
Zakharova said there will be a noticeable reaction to the move, stressing that the destructive consequences were the sole responsibility of the German side and accused Baerbock of "Russophobic hysteria."
France has said numerous Russian employees with diplomatic status were told to leave. The Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, the Czech Republic and the Baltic countries have also announced expulsions in recent weeks.
The European Union and the United States have said they are preparing fresh sanctions against Moscow in response to the atrocities uncovered in Bucha.
Images of bound bodies, mass graves and people lying lifeless on the road have drawn international outcry. The searing scenes were discovered after Russian forces abandoned the area. Moscow says its troops had nothing to do with the killings.
