The Russian government has added the United States and the Czech Republic to the list of unfriendly foreign states.
The order of May 13 is published on the official portal of legal information of the Russian Federation.
The list of two countries, in addition to the names, indicates the number of individuals located on the territory of Russia with whom the diplomatic missions of the United States and the Czech Republic and their consular offices can conclude employment contracts.
It follows from the list that the Czech diplomatic missions can hire up to 19 such individuals, the US missions-none.
Russian media specify that the order was adopted in accordance with the decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin of April 23 “On countering unfriendly actions of foreign states”.
The decree restricts the ability of diplomatic missions and consular services of such states to hire individuals located on the territory of Russia.
The provisions of the decree do not apply to citizens of unfriendly states who came from there to Russia as employees of diplomatic missions.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis called on the leaders of the European Union to expel at least one Russian diplomat in solidarity with Prague in the case of the explosions at the warehouses in Vrbetice.
Prague expelled 18 Russian diplomats, and Russia responded by declaring 20 employees of the Czech Embassy in Moscow persona non grata.
The Czech Republic then decided to equalize the number of employees of the Russian Embassy in Prague with the number of employees of the Czech Embassy in Moscow, which means the expulsion of about 70 more employees of the Russian diplomatic mission.
