Russia orders Romania's St. Petersburg consul general to leave, will close mission

BASRA, Iraq — MOSCOW — Russia has declared Romania's consul general in St. Petersburg persona non grata and set a deadline for him to leave, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, adding that Romania's consulate in the city will be shut down. A ministry spokesperson said the decision was communicated to Romanian Ambassador to Moscow Cristian Istrate. The ministry described the move as a response to Romania's decision on May 29 to declare the head of Russia's consulate in Constanța persona non grata and to withhold approval for the mission to operate. Bucharest took that step after a drone struck a residential building in an eastern Romanian city near the Ukrainian border, lightly injuring two people. Romania, a NATO and European Union member, shares a 650-kilometer land border with Ukraine. The incident occurred against a backdrop of heightened tension along NATO's eastern flank. No further details on the timeline for the consul general's departure or the closure of the St. Petersburg mission were immediately available.