(Photo: theglobepost)

Belgian Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmes said on Tuesday that Belgium is kicking out 21 diplomats from Russia’s embassy in Brussels and consulate in Antwerp, giving them two weeks to leave. 

She said the move was made in coordination with the Netherlands, whose foreign ministry said it is expelling 17 Russian diplomats considered “secretly active” as intelligence officers.

Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said four “senior officials” at Russia’s embassy in Dublin have been told to leave for engaging in activities “not...in accordance with international standards of diplomatic behavior” – a code for spying.

Poland last week expelled 45 Russian diplomats over alleged espionage, becoming a country expelling the most Russian diplomats.

Bulgaria, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania have also expelled many Russian diplomats.

Russia said it expelled a total of 10 diplomats from the European Union’s three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in retaliation for those countries expelling Russian diplomats earlier this month.

Moscow summoned the heads of the diplomatic missions of these countries to protest the expulsion of Russian embassy staff, calling the expulsions provocative and entirely baseless.

To date a total of 116 Russian diplomats and employees have been expelled for alleged activities contrary to diplomatic regulations.