Iceland's Foreign Ministry announced on Friday that it will suspend the operations of its Moscow Embassy on August 1, News.az reports.

"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," Icelandic Foreign Minister Thordis Kolbrun Reykfjord Gylfadottir said.

Iceland also requested that Russia limit the operations of its Embassy in Reykjavík and that its level of diplomatic representation be lowered. The ministry said the decision "does not constitute a severance of diplomatic relations." It added that it will prioritize the resumption of the Embassy operations "as soon as conditions permit."