Russia Expels 2 German Diplomats in Quid Pro Quo Move

Process participants are pictured at the courtroom, where a trial took place against a Russian defendant, Vadim Krasikov, of gunning down 40-year-old Georgian national Zelimkhan "Tornike" Kavtarashvili, in Berlin, on Dec. 15, 2021. Christophe Gateau/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

MOSCOW—Russia on Monday ordered two German diplomats to leave in response to the expulsion of two Russian envoys after a German court’s ruling that blamed Moscow for the killing of a Chechen man in Berlin two years ago.

Moscow has angrily rejected the Berlin court’s verdict and the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the German ambassador Monday to inform him about the diplomats’ expulsion in what it said was a “symmetrical response to the unfriendly decision by the German government.”