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DPA
Moscow
In response to the revoked accreditation for Russian diplomats, Russia will suspend the work of its permanent representation to NATO in Brussels from the beginning of November, according to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
In addition, the NATO military mission in Moscow will not be allowed to continue its work, Lavrov said at a press conference on Monday, according to the Interfax agency. As of November 1, its staff will have their accreditations withdrawn, he said.
“NATO is neither interested in an equal dialogue nor in cooperation,” Lavrov said. In urgent cases, the military alliance could turn to the Russian ambassador in Belgium, he added.
NATO announced on October 6 it had withdrawn the accreditation of eight Russian diplomats in Brussels because they were undeclared intelligence officers.
NATO also said at the time that the maximum staff levels of Moscow’s NATO delegation would be halved from 20 to 10. Moscow then announced countermeasures.
After the decision, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg left open whether the Russian officials were engaged in classic espionage at NATO or were merely not declared as intelligence service employees.
A NATO spokesperson at the time explained that the decision to withdraw accreditation was based on the secret service’s own intelligence findings, and that the secret service does not comment on such findings.
On Monday, NATO spokesperson Oana Longescu said the alliance was aware of Lavrov’s comments to media but had not been officially informed of the decision by Russian authorities.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Moscow’s decision would “seriously strain” relations. Speaking at an EU meeting in Luxembourg, Maas said the move would only prolong the “long-standing ice age” the two sides find themselves in.
The western alliance’s dealings with its traditional adversary Russia have grown increasingly strained since Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea. Russia in turn has repeatedly flagged the stationing of NATO forces near its territory.
The Kremlin was critical after the October 6 announcement. The step contradicted the statements by NATO representatives about a desired improvement in relations, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“These actions, of course, do not allow us to have any illusions about a possible normalization of relations and a resumption of dialogue with NATO,” he said.
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19/10/2021
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