Austria announced on Wednesday the expulsion of two Russian diplomats amid tensions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which led to tough Western economic sanctions, AFP reported.

The diplomats behaved “in a manner incompatible with their diplomatic status,” the Austrian Foreign Ministry said without further explanation. Two Russian diplomats have to leave the country by Tuesday, March 19.

The Russian embassy in Vienna said it was “outraged” by Austria’s “purely political” decision, saying it had not received “the slightest proof”.

“Moscow’s firm response (will be) without any doubts,” the embassy added on the Telegram social network, accusing Vienna of responsibility for “further deterioration of bilateral relations.”

Before the war in Ukraine, the expulsion of Russian diplomats was rare in Austria, a generally neutral European country that maintained close relations with Moscow.

In February 2023, Austria already expelled four Russian diplomats, including two who were accredited to the UN in Vienna. In response, Russia expelled four Austrian diplomats.

Austria also expelled four Russian diplomats in April 2022 as part of an agreed response within the EU following the discovery of the bodies of Ukrainian civilian victims in Buch, a suburb of Kyiv, the site of a massacre attributed to the Russian military.

A Russian diplomat accused of espionage in April 2020 was also forced to leave the territory of Austria.