Russia will be declaring 40 German diplomats as personae non-gratae in a response to Berlin's similar decision, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

The decision came on Monday in order to lodge a protest over expelling 40 Russian diplomats from Germany.

"On April 25, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Russian Federation Geza Andreas von Geyr was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry,” said a ministry statement on its website.

The statement added that Von Geyr “was strongly protested in connection with the openly unfriendly decision of the German government dated April 4, 2022 to declare ‘persona non grata’ 40 employees of Russian diplomatic institutions in Germany."

The ministry added that the German action was triggered "by an absolutely false statement that the work of these employees was aimed at undermining the ‘freedom of Germany’ and ‘unity of German society,’ as well as insinuations regarding what is happening in Ukraine."

"The German ambassador was handed a note declaring ‘persona non grata’ 40 employees of German diplomatic institutions in Russia as a symmetrical response to the above-mentioned decision of the German government," the ministry said.

On April 4, Germany decided to expel a significant number of Russian diplomats, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.

According to AFP, Berlin's move involves 40 Russians.

Baerbock claimed that those working in the Russian embassy consider a threat to whoever is seeking protection in our country, referring to the Ukrainian refugees received by Germany, which amount to more than 300,000.

"We will no longer tolerate that -- we communicated that to the Russian ambassador this afternoon," she said. 

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