Germany, Sweden and Poland on Monday said that they have expelled a Russian diplomat each, in retaliation for Moscow’s expulsion last week of their diplomats for allegedly taking part in protests in support of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

“Today the Federal Foreign Office has declared a staff member of the Russian embassy in Berlin persona non grata,” the German foreign ministry said.

Moscow’s decision to expel the Swedish, Polish and German diplomats “was in no way justified”, it added.

Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said Stockholm had “informed the Russian ambassador that a person from the Russian embassy is asked to leave Sweden”.

“This is a clear response to the unacceptable decision to expel a Swedish diplomat who was only performing his duties,” she wrote on Twitter.

The Polish foreign ministry likewise condemned the “groundless expulsion” of a Polish diplomat in Saint Petersburg and said it had declared “persona non grata” a Russian consular official in Poznan, western Poland.

Russia had on Friday announced the shock expulsion of the three EU diplomats during a rare meeting in Moscow between EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Moscow accused the diplomats of attending “illegal protests” last month.