Iceland to suspend embassy operations in Russia

REYKJAVIK: Iceland said on Friday it would suspend work at its embassy in Russia as of August 1, the first country to do so, and asked Russia to limit its operations in Reykjavik. “The current situation simply does not make it viable for the small foreign service of Iceland to operate an embassy in Russia,” Foreign Minister Thordis Gylfadottir said.

In a symbolic move, staff could be seen taking down the Icelandic flag hanging from the side of the embassy in Moscow on Friday. AFP´s bureau in Moscow said Iceland was the first country to make such a move. The foreign ministry stressed that the decision “does not constitute a severance of diplomatic relations”. But since commercial, cultural and political ties with Russia were “at an all-time low”, maintaining embassy operations in Moscow was “no longer justifiable,” it said. Iceland said it had summoned the Russian ambassador, and “requested that Russia limit the operations of its embassy in Reykjavík ... and that the level of diplomatic representation be lowered.” Gylfadottir said she hoped conditions would “someday allow us to have normal and fruitful relations with Russia, but that depends on decisions taken by the Kremlin.”