St. petersburg: The Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday declared the Romanian Consul General in St. Petersburg persona non grata and announced the closure of the Romanian Consulate General in the city.
According to Qatar News Agency, the ministry conveyed that the Romanian ambassador was informed of these countermeasures, which were taken by Moscow in response to Romania's closure of the Russian Consulate in Constanta after a drone incident.
The ministry's statement detailed that Romania's Ambassador to Russia, Cristian Istrate, was summoned to the ministry's headquarters. There, he was handed an official note declaring the Romanian Consul General in St. Petersburg persona non grata and notifying him of the impending closure of the Romanian consular institution in the city.
The ministry emphasized that this action was a response to Bucharest's decision to withdraw its consent for the continued operation of the Russian Consulate General in Constanta and to declare its director persona non grata.
Last month, Romanian authorities reported that two individuals were injured when a drone crashed into a residential building in the southeastern city of Galati, during an attack launched by Russia on neighboring Ukraine.