Russian expulsion of German diplomats ‘unjustified’: Berlin

Russia’s decision to expel two German diplomats in a tit-for-tat action is “unjustified”, Germany’s foreign ministry said Thursday, warning that Berlin could take “further action” in the escalating row.

Moscow’s move “sends the wrong signal and is unjustified,” said a foreign ministry spokeswoman.

Russia took retaliatory action after Germany last week threw out two Russian envoys over the killing of a former Chechen rebel commander in a Berlin park.

Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a 40-year-old Georgian national, was shot twice in the head at close range in Kleiner Tiergarten park on August 23, allegedly by a Russian man who was arrested shortly afterwards.

German prosecutors have said Moscow could be behind the assassination.

“A serious and immediate cooperation of the Russian authorities is urgently required,” said the spokeswoman, warning that “the government reserves to take further action in this matter in the light of the investigations”.