Dozens of Russian diplomats have been expelled from European countries this week. It amounts to one of the biggest diplomatic breakdowns of recent years. The European Union on Tuesday declared a number of Russian diplomats working in Brussels "persona non grata" and ordered them to leave host nation Belgium. Germany and France announced around 75 expulsions on Monday. A number of other EU member states, including Spain, Portugal and Italy, followed suit. Lithuania and Latvia earlier downgraded their diplomatic relations with Russia.