Reports of atrocities near Kyiv prompted France and Germany to expel Russian diplomats on Monday and Reuters news agency reports that Italy, Denmark and Sweden have now done the same.
Italy has expelled 30 Russian diplomats because of security concerns, it quotes a spokesman for their Foreign Minister as saying.
And it says Denmark has expelled 15 of Russia’s diplomats following emerging evidence of civilian killings in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, near Kyiv.
Sweden also says it will expel three Russian diplomats who aren’t acting in line with the Vienna Convention’s international rules.
Russia’s former president and deputy security council chairman Dmitry Medvedev has responded by saying it will retaliate and “slam shut the door on Western embassies”.
