Ukrainian diplomat expelled from Russia named

KIEV, July 31 (RIA Novosti) - One of the Ukrainian diplomats to be expelled by Russia as part of the tit-for-tat row has been named as Igor Berezkin, a source in the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry was cited by the UNIAN news agency as saying on Friday.

Berezkin, who recently took up his post in the political section of the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow, coordinated all issues on Ukraine-Russian relations, in particular Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine's Crimea.

The expulsions follows a similar move by Kiev, who requested that Russia's consul general in Odessa, Alexander Grachev and a senior counselor at the Russian embassy, Vladimir Lysenko, leave Ukraine over accusations that they had been involved in work in violation of their diplomatic status.

Ukraine earlier demanded Lysenko quit the country by July 29, despite the fact that the Russian diplomat had already left Ukraine after his job came to an end on July 28.

Russia's Foreign Minister responded angrily to the expulsions, "The Ukrainian authorities have not presented us with any facts of espionage," Sergei Lavrov told reporters in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe on Thursday. "They simply do not exist. We know this for sure."

The minister also said that maintaining contacts with legitimate political forces, which openly express their ideas and conduct their activities in accordance with national laws, cannot be deemed "incompatible with diplomatic status."