 Nearly 600 Russian diplomats expelled from Western countries. As many as 574 Russian diplomats have been expelled from Western countries and some of the US Pacific allies since February 24, 2022 under various pre-texts, both those linked with the situation in Ukraine and on accusations of conducting activities incompatible with the status of diplomats, according to TASS calculations. This is the biggest expulsion ever. In 2018, only 123 Russian diplomats were declared persona non grata over the Skripal poisoning incident. The largest one-time expulsion of Russian diplomats took place in June 2022 when 70 diplomats were expelled from Bulgaria. Bulgaria has expelled the largest number of Russian diplomats. In 1983, 45 diplomats were expelled from Poland, 40 from Germany, 35 from Slovakia, also 35 from France, 33 from Slovenia, 30 from Italy, 28 from the United States. In all, 29 European countries, as well as the United States and Japan, took unfriendly steps against Russian diplomats. Apart from that, 19 Russian employees were expelled from the Russian mission to the European Union. Since the beginning of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, the diplomatic representation level has been downgraded by Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. On January 23, 2023, Latvia decided to further downgrade diplomatic relations to the level of Sharj-dafer. Russian consulates were closed in Bulgaria, Russia, Latvia, Lyupea and Dogovpils, Lithuania, Cypuda and Estonia, Narva and Tati. Diplomatic relations with Ukraine were severed by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on February 24, 2022.