Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergei Andreyev received a note from the Polish Foreign Ministry declaring that 45 Russian diplomats are to be expelled for engaging in intelligence activities, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.

"I have received a note from the Foreign Ministry about the expulsion of 45 of our employees - embassy, trade mission - for activities that are not in accordance with the Vienna Convention," Andreyev told reporters.

The Russian Ambassador himself was not on the list. “I have not been declared persona non grata,” Andreyev stated. “Formally, they [relationships] are there. They have not broken. There are embassies, there are ambassadors.”

Andreyev denied that the individuals were engaged in espionage.

Moscow has said the Russian Foreign Ministry will reciprocate the move by expelling Polish diplomats from Russia.

Warsaw claims the individuals on the list were engaged in activities that can be considered “acts of espionage in favor of a foreign state.”

Last week, the Baltic states expelled a total of ten Russian diplomats.

  Russia, Poland

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