THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NATO expelled eight members of Russia’s mission to the military alliance on October 6, 2021, saying that they were secretly working as intelligence officers. The move halved the size of Moscow’s team at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
“We can confirm that we have withdrawn the accreditation of eight members of the Russian Mission to NATO, who were undeclared Russian intelligence officers,” a NATO official said. The official was speaking under the customary condition of anonymity.
NATO also reduced the number of positions that Russia can accredit people for at the Belgium-based organization from 20 down to 10, the official said. The decision will take effect at the end of October.
Relations between NATO and Russia have been increasingly strained since Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014. The two are at odds over Russia’s nuclear missile development, aerial intrusions into NATO airspace and the buzzing of allied ships by fighter planes.
Official talks between them have been limited in recent years.
“NATO’s policy towards Russia remains consistent. We have strengthened our deterrence and defense in response to Russia’s aggressive actions, while at the same time we remain open for a meaningful dialogue,” the official said.
The main forum for dialogue, the NATO-Russia Council, is stalled.
“NATO proposed to hold another meeting of the NATO-Russia Council over 18 months ago, and that proposal stands. The ball is in Russia’s court,” the official said.
The expulsions came just two days after U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin welcomed NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to the Pentagon, pictured, to discuss the future of the alliance. Austin thanked Stoltenberg for keeping the alliance together and for modernizing it.
“NATO’s power comes not just from military might, but from its unity and sense of common purpose,” Austin said, according to a U.S. Department of Defense news release. “You have been an outstanding champion of those strengths. And we’re going to keep this alliance resilient, resolute and united.”
IMAGE CREDIT: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS