Germany declares two Russian diplomats persona non grata over assassination of Georgian citizen

The German foreign ministry said they had been declared two employees of Russian embassy in Berlin persona non grata in protest at Russia’s failure to cooperate with investigations into the killing of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a Georgian national shot dead in a Berlin park in August.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed as "absolutely groundless" the suspicion Russia might have been involved in the murder of a Georgian citizen in Berlin.

The expulsions come as federal prosecutors responsible for issues of national security announced they were taking over the case on Wednesday.

“There is sufficient factual evidence that the killing was carried out on behalf of state agencies of the Russian Federation,” federal prosecutors said in a statement.

Georgian citizen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili was killed on August 23 in Berlin.