Author: Maja Zivanovic

VIENNA – Just two days before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Andrei Rudenko addressed the lower chamber of parliament on what would become the Kremlin’s initial steps to annex territory in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions. His introductory remarks included accusations that Ukraine was “sabotaging”...

by Maja Zivanovic, Sonja Gocanin, Riin Aljas, Mark Krutov and Sergei Dobrynin RFE/RL BELGRADE – In the months following Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine last year, hundreds of Russian diplomats were expelled or blacklisted by European Union member states, several of which cited alleged espionage by the banished emissaries. At least three of these diplomats...