Russia
will hit back with a tit-for-tat reaction if Ukraine expels its
ambassador, Russian news agencies reported Wednesday, after the envoy
was summoned over what Kyiv called "unfriendly comments", AFP reported."If
article nine of the Vienna Conventions...is applied in regard to the
Russian ambassador, it will not stand without a corresponding reaction
from the Russian side," a foreign ministry source told.
Relations
between Russia and Ukraine are already strained by a squabble over gas
transit in January that led Moscow to cut supplies and caused several
European countries to be deprived of gas for two weeks.
The
latest row appears to have been sparked over an interview Ambassador
Viktor Chernomyrdin gave to a Russian newspaper last week.
"It
is impossible to come to an agreement on anything with the Ukrainian
leadership. If different people come in, we`ll see," Chernomyrdin told
tabloid daily Komsomolskaya Pravda on Feb. 11.
Ukrainian
President Viktor Yushchenko`s office has repeatedly protested that the
deal agreed by his arch-rival Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her
Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was a sellout for Ukraine.
Chernomyrdin
said that the leaders of the Ukrainian state are always "slamming one
another. She signed what was needed for Ukraine and now he`s shooting
holes in it: where`s the money?"
Ukraine`s foreign ministry
said Tuesday it had summoned Chernomyrdin and warned him over what it
called "unfriendly comments", without being specific about the
incident.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ogryzko told
Chernomyrdin he was displeased with "unfriendly comments" he made about
Ukraine and its leaders, a ministry statement said.
The
ministry said it could draw on rules governing diplomatic relations to
declare Chernomyrdin "persona non grata" over the row, which could
further destabilize Kyiv-Moscow relations.
AFP via EasyBourse
