Moscow, Apr 22 (IANS): The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that it has decided to "mirror" Germany's "hostile" actions and expel German diplomats from the country.

"The German authorities have decided on another mass expulsion of employees of Russian diplomatic missions in that country. We strongly condemn these actions of Berlin, which continues to defiantly destroy the entire array of Russian-German relations," the ministry said in a statement, Xinhua news agency reported.

The maximum number of employees in German diplomatic missions in Russia will also be "significantly" limited, it said, adding that on April 5, the Russian Foreign Ministry officially had notified the German Ambassador to Russia, Geza Andreas von Geyr, of this decision.

The German Foreign Ministry has not made any official announcement on this matter.

In April last year, Germany had announced the expulsion of 40 Russian diplomats, and Russia declared a tit-for-tat move.