The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iceland announced on Friday that it will suspend operations of its embassy in Moscow starting August 1, 2023. Iceland has also requested Russia to limit the operations of its embassy in Reykjavík.

Iceland’s embassy of Iceland in Moscow has been operating since 1944, except between 1951-1953, when there was no trade between the countries. According to the press release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iceland prioritizes the location of their foreign embassies by the extent of economic, political and cultural ties or development cooperation. Commercial, cultural and political relations with Russia are at an all-time low at the moment. Iceland Foreign Minister Gylfadóttir explained:

This is not an easy decision as Iceland has enjoyed rich relations with the people of Russia since our independence in 1944. However, the current situation simply does not make it viable for the small foreign service of Iceland to operate an embassy in Russia. I hope that conditions will someday allow for us to have normal and fruitful relations with Russia, but that depends on decisions taken by the Kremlin.

Iceland is not the only EU country that has limited its diplomatic relationship with Russia since the war in Ukraine began. In mid-April, Germany expelled Russian diplomats to “reduce the presence of intelligence services”, which triggered Russia’s retaliatory expulsions in May. However, Iceland is the first to have announced the suspension of its embassy in Moscow, though it clarified that this “does not constitute a severance of diplomatic relations,” and that “Iceland will prioritize the resumption of operations of the Embassy” as soon as possible.

Furthermore, Iceland also requested Russia limit operation its own embassy in Reykjavík and lowered the level of diplomatic representation under Article 11 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Notably, the same article says that “the receiving state may equally, within similar bounds and on a non-discriminatory basis, refuse to accept officials of a particular category.”

Russia responded to Iceland’s actions by saying they had “destroyed” bilateral ties, adding that “all anti-Russian actions of Reykjavik will inevitably be followed by a corresponding reaction.”