After Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said Croatia would declare a Russian diplomat a 'persona non grata', the foreign ministry (MVEP) confirmed for N1 that an expulsion note was handed to Russian embassy.

“In line with article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the host nation can at any time, without stating reason, notify the sending state that a member of the diplomatic staff has become persona non grata (i.e. undesirable). There are many possible reasons for this, and the host state is not obliged to explain its action,” MVEP said..

“Usually, the ministry invites the head of the foreign diplomatic mission and hands them a note declaring a member of the mission undesirable. The note also states the deadline by which the person must leave the host country. That was the procedure done today, and a member of the diplomatic staff of the Russian embassy in Zagreb was declared persona non grata,” MVEP added in its reply to N1.

The ministry refused to name the diplomat in question. In Prime Minister Andrej Plenković’s news conference on Monday he said the move came as a sign of solidarity with the UK. He declined to name the person in question, but specified it would not be Russia’s ambassador to Croatia Anvar Azimov as such a move “would not be necessary”.