RUSSIA is expected to start expelling German diplomats, teachers and employees of German cultural institutions next month, it was reported today.

The move will worsen already high tensions between the two countries, which have already had very fraught ties since Russia invaded Ukraine early last year.

The German Foreign Ministry sharply criticised Russia’s move earlier today, calling the upcoming expulsions a unilateral unjustified and incomprehensible decision.

The measure will affect several hundred German state employees, including staff of the Goethe Institute, which promotes German culture and language abroad, daily paper the Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported.

The expulsions come in response to the reduction of the presence of Russian intelligence services in Germany earlier this year.

“The Russian Foreign Ministry had made public in April its decision to introduce a cap on the number of staff at our missions abroad and at German intermediary organisations in Russia,” according to the German Foreign Office.

The expulsions will lead to “a major cut in all areas of our presence in Russia,” according to the ministry.

Germany did not announce a response to Russia’s move but the Foreign Office said that “with regard to the upper limit on the Russian presence in Germany, the German government will ensure that there is a real balance in practice as well.”