Russia on Friday expelled 10 Romanian diplomats in response to similar expulsions by Bucharest.

Moscow’s foreign ministry added that it declined Romanian attempts to blame Russia for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

Also in a separate statement,a member of the Bulgarian embassy was also being expelled.

This decision were part of a series of tit-for-tat expulsions by Russia after more than 300 of its diplomats were kicked out of European capitals in the wake of its military campaign in Ukraine, NAN reports.

Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into its neighbour on Feb. 24 in what it called a special operation to degrade Kyiv’s military capabilities and root out “fascism”.

Ukraine denied posing a threat to Russia and said the fascism allegation was
a baseless pretext for unprovoked aggression.

Western countries had imposed sweeping sanctions in an effort to force Russia to withdraw,as Ukrainian forces continue to mount stiff resistance.