Twelve Russian envoys put on flight to Moscow

Athens is reportedly preparing for retaliation from Moscow after Greece expelled 12 diplomats described as personae non gratae and who were placed on a special flight on Tuesday along with their families to Russia.

The Russian plane that picked them up had previously made a stop in Madrid, where it had collected some 25 deported diplomats from Spain.

For its part, the Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday announced the deportation of 37 diplomats from EU member-states, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Austria.

These deportations preceded others in retaliation for the decision by EU member-states to declare a total of more than 200 Russian diplomats as personae non gratae.