The Kremlin has summoned Norway’s ambassador in Moscow after a Norwegian diplomat was reportedly filmed saying she hated Russians.
The transfer comes days after Russia’s overseas ministry stated it was contemplating how to reply to what it referred to as an “outrageous act of hatred, nationalism and xenophobia”.
On Thursday, the ministry stated it had taken motion due to the “offensive Russophobic comments” allegedly made by Elisabeth Ellingsen, Norway’s consul in Murmansk, a metropolis in northwest Russia.
In a video which appeared on Telegram, the diplomat was proven ready for a room to be cleaned. “I hate Russians…I used to clean rooms, I’m from Scandinavia,” she is alleged to have stated.
The Norwegian overseas ministry stated it “deeply regrets” the incident, which has been seen a whole bunch of hundreds of instances on social media.
As a results of the diplomatic rift, the Norwegian Consulate General was quickly closed from 1 July, in keeping with the nation’s embassy in Moscow.
The incident comes at a time of monumental pressure between European leaders and the Kremlin over Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking on Thursday, Jens Stoltenberg, the pinnacle of Nato, described Russia’s warfare in Ukraine because the “most dangerous situation in Europe since World War Two”.
“It’s in our interest that this type of aggressive policy does not succeed,” the previous prime minister of Norway stated.
“What happens in Ukraine is terrible but it would be much worse if there was a war between Russia and Nato,” he added.
His speech adopted the US senate and the Italian parliament’s resolution to again the accession of Finland and Sweden to Nato. Both had been prompted to affix the alliance over safety fears attributable to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Their request to grow to be Nato members has now been ratified by 23 of the 30 member states.
