Moscow has declared five employees of Croatia's embassy in Russia personae non gratae, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported on Friday as carried by the TASS news agency.

“In response to hostile steps taken earlier by Zagreb to reduce the size of Russia’s diplomatic mission, (Croatian ambassador) Tomislav Car received a note which declares five employees of the Croatian Embassy in Moscow personae non gratae,” Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reported.

It notes that a “strong protest was expressed to Croatia’s ambassador because of unfounded attempts by Croatian authorities to blame Russia for war crimes in Ukraine and provide military assistance to the neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv.”

On 11 April Croatia announced that it had expelled 18 Russian diplomats and six administrative staff serving in Zagreb.

A day later the Russian Federation slammed the expulsion of the diplomats and sent a strong protest to Croatia’s authorities and threatened to reciprocate.