SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — North Macedonia’s foreign ministry said Thursday that Russia has expelled a diplomat from the small Balkan country, weeks after a Russian embassy official was ordered to leave Skopje.

The acting ambassador at North Macedonia’s embassy in Moscow was summoned to the Russian foreign ministry and informed that a member of her staff had been declared persona non grata, according to separate statements from the two foreign ministries.

“Regrets for the unjustified decision of the (Russian Foreign Ministry), merely a retaliatory political decision,” Bujar Osmani, North Macedonia’s foreign minister, wrote on Twitter.

“This will undoubtedly have a negative influence on the bilateral relations between the Republic of North Macedonia and the Russian Federation.”

Relations between the two countries have soured since North Macedonia joined NATO last year.

Officials in North Macedonia have given no reason for the expulsion of a senior Russian diplomat stationed in the capital, Skopje, from the country in mid-May.

The Associated Press