A Broader European Pattern
The expulsions from Italy fit a wider European trend. In 2022, more than 400 Russian diplomats were expelled from European Union countries. Germany expelled 40, France expelled 23, and Italy itself expelled 20. These numbers reflect a coordinated Western response to Russian intelligence activities that accelerated after the invasion of Ukraine. This pattern is not new. In 2021, Bulgaria expelled two Russian diplomats for espionage. In 2018, following the poisoning of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, more than 150 Russian diplomats were expelled from 27 countries. That case triggered the largest coordinated expulsion of Russian intelligence officers in history. What is at stake in each of these cases is the delicate balance between the privileges necessary for diplomacy to function and the sovereign right of states to protect their national security. The Vienna Convention provides the legal architecture for that balance, but it relies on the good faith of signatories.
Italy’s Role in a Confrontational Era
Italy, a Southern European republic and founding member of the European Union, has a long history as a sovereign state and a major player in international diplomacy. After World War II, the country abandoned its fascist past and aligned firmly with the Western alliance, joining NATO in the late 1940s. It sits at a strategic crossroads in the Mediterranean, hosting the headquarters of several international organizations, including the Holy See in Rome. Its post-war constitution enshrines a commitment to peaceful international relations, and Italy has often served as a bridge between Western Europe and the broader Mediterranean world. As a parliamentary republic with a population among the largest in the European Union, Italy has maintained a robust diplomatic corps and is a signatory to the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which codifies diplomatic immunity. That treaty allows host countries to declare any diplomat persona non grata for activities incompatible with their official status—a tool Italy has employed in these recent expulsions.
The wider picture is one of a diplomatic framework under sustained pressure. The Vienna Convention, drafted in an era of Cold War rivalry, was designed to manage such tensions. But the scale of expulsions since 2022—over 400 from the EU alone in a single year—suggests that the convention is being used less as a tool for dialogue and more as a weapon in a broader confrontation. Tensions between Moscow and Western capitals have grown steadily since the late 2010s, marked by a series of espionage incidents and coordinated expulsions. Italy, as both a NATO member and a major European economy, has been drawn into that pattern. For Italy, the expulsion of two diplomats in March 2023 was a measured but clear signal. It came as European governments were still recalibrating their relationship with Moscow, having already imposed sweeping sanctions and expelled hundreds of Russian intelligence officers posing as diplomats. The Italian case underscores the ongoing strain between the need for diplomatic engagement and the imperative of national security, a balance that affects foreign policy, intelligence work, and public trust in international law. As European capitals continue to monitor Russian diplomatic missions, the Italian case will likely serve as a reference point. The convention remains the governing law, but its application is now inseparable from the geopolitical realities of a continent at war.
