Nigeria, Feb. 5 -- Russia on Friday expelled three diplomats from Germany, Sweden and Poland for allegedly joining protests in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the foreign ministry of the eastern Europe country said Friday.

Although the ministry did not name the expelled diplomats, the Kremlin accused them of attending the January 23 "illegal demonstrations" that swept across Moscow and St. Petersburg, an allegation their home countries have denied.

Declaring personae non-gratae on the diplomats means they will have to leave Russia in the near future, the foreign ministry said.

The expulsions came hours after European Union foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, saying...