Slovenia hands Russia’s ambassador a protest note condemning the Bucha massacre

Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP, Ilustracija

Slovenia's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday protested with the Russian ambassador to Ljubljana over the killing of civilians in Bucha and elsewhere in Ukraine, and announced a downsizing of Russian staff in the Russian Embassy in Ljubljana.

Ambassador Timur Eyvazov was summoned to the ministry, where the “strongest protest and shock was expressed” over the civilians killed by the Russian army in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, Croatian state agency Hina said, probably citing a press release.

Eyvazov was also informed of the government’s decision to reduce the Russian diplomatic and technical staff in the embassy in Ljubljana and to “align their number with that of the Slovenian diplomatic mission in Moscow.”

The ministry said this is being done in line with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which allows a receiving state to adapt the size of a mission “within limits considered by it to be reasonable and normal in line with circumstances and needs.”

Hina did not say how many diplomats and staff might be affected by this decision, nor how many people does Slovenia’s embassy in Moscow employ.