Russia suspends its mission at NATO, shuts alliance’s office
MOSCOW – Russia said Monday it’s suspending its mission at NATO and also ordered the closure of the alliance’s office in Moscow in retaliation to NATO’s expulsion of Russian diplomats.
Earlier this month, NATO withdrew the accreditation of eight Russian officials to deny them access to its Brussels headquarters, saying it believes they have been secretly working as intelligence officers. NATO also halved the size of Moscow’s team at its headquarters from 20 to 10.
Moscow has dismissed the accusations as baseless, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced Moscow’s response Monday, announcing the suspension of Russia’s mission at NATO and the closure of the alliance’s military liaison and information offices in the Russian capital.
He charged that the alliance’s action has confirmed that “NATO isn’t interested in any kind of equal dialogue or joint work,” adding that “we don’t see any need to keep pretending that there could be any shift in the foreseeable future.”
“As a result of NATO’s deliberate moves, we have practically no conditions for elementary diplomatic work and in response to NATO’s actions we suspend the work of our permanent mission to NATO, including the work of the chief military envoy, probably from Nov. 1. Or it may take several more days,” Lavrov said.
The Foreign Ministry said in a separate statement that NATO’s actions “confirm that they are not interested in an equal dialogue and joint work to deescalate military-political tensions.”
“The alliance’s line towards our country is becoming more and more aggressive,” the ministry noted. “The ‘Russian threat’ is inflated in order to strengthen the internal unity of the alliance, to create the appearance of its ‘relevance’ in modern geopolitical conditions.”
NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said the alliance has taken note of Lavrov’s statement, but added it hasn’t yet received an official notice from Moscow.
The Russian mission isn’t based at NATO’s headquarters, but in a leafy neighborhood in the south of the Belgian capital, Brussels.
NATO suspended practical cooperation with Russia in 2014 after it annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.