NATO expels eight Russian diplomats

The eight members of the Russian diplomatic mission in the north-Atlantic alliance, who are accused of working for Russian intelligence agencies, must leave Brussels by the end of this month.

Secretary - General NATO, Jens Stolenberg, said relations between Russia and NATO are at their lowest point at the moment since the end of the Cold War.

“We have removed the allegations of eight members of the Russian mission in NATO, who are undeclared Russian intelligence officers. This decision is not related to any particular event. But we have noticed an increase in Russia's malicious activities“, Mr. Stoltenberg said at a press conference.

Leader NATO said the alliance is ready for dialogue with Russia, but that the Kremlin has so far shown no will to negotiate.

“We have seen their aggressive actions, not only against Ukraine, but also the considerable military establishment and violations of important arms control agreements, such as the Middle Line Nuclear Forces Treaty, which led to the destruction of this treaty, which prohibited all medium-range weapons systems action”, he said.

Kremlin said the decision was made NATO almost completely undermined its expectations that relations could normalise and that dialogue with the US-led alliance could resume.

“There is an apparent discrepancy in NATO representatives' statements regarding their will to normalise relations with our country and their current actions”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

The 30 NATO member states approved the decision to cut the Russian observer mission, launched two decades ago to help improve dialogue and co-operation in common security areas.

This is not the first time NATO has expelled Russian diplomats from the alliance headquarters. Seven diplomats were expelled in 2018, following the poisoning of Sergei Scripal, the former Russian intelligence officer who had sought refuge in Britain.

The Kremlin denied involvement in the assassination attempt, but Britain has identified Russian intelligence officers, who it says stand behind poisoning.

Last month, British police charged a third suspect by the Russian military intelligence agency with poisoning.

In April, Czech officials said two Russian agents suspected of poisoning Scripal were involved in organising the explosion at a Czech ammunition depot in 2014, where two people were killed. / VOA