Nato expels eight ‘undeclared’ spies over Russia’s ‘aggressive actions’

Nato has expelled eight Russian diplomats whom it said were “undeclared” intelligence officers.

The group of allied western forces also halved the number of people in Russia’s mission to 10 – in response to “aggressive actions”, as well as incidents involving espionage and killings.

Eight diplomats are expected to leave Brussels, where Nato is based, by the end of the month as their positions are due to be scrapped. Two additional positions that are vacant will also be abolished.

An anonymous Nato official told Radio Free Europe that the group had “strengthened our deterrence and defence in response to Russia’s aggressive actions”.

Nato is willing to engage in dialogue with Russia, the official also said.

Russia vowed to retaliate against the decision Nato made on Tuesday, and not necessarily in kind, according to senior Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky, as reported by the Interfax news agency.

Relations between the 30-member alliance and Russia have been strained since Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014.

The decision to expel intelligence officers came after it emerged in April that Russia was suspected to have been involved in a deadly explosion at an ammunition depot in the Czech Republic in 2014.

Nato is also concerned over Russia’s nuclear missile development, intrusions into Nato airspace, and Russia practising bombing with its fighter jets on simulated enemy ships in the Black Sea.

The latest explusion of Russian diplomats comes after the alliance expelled seven Russian intelligence officers across allied countries following the 2018 novichok poisoning in Salisbury, which was suspected to have been planned and carried out by three Russian spies on 4 March that year.

The spies targeted former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Both nearly died.

A member of the public, Dawn Sturgess, died after she accidentally came into contact with the deadly nerve agent, and her boyfriend Charlie Rowley fell seriously ill.

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied knowledge of the attack, which is thought to have been carried out by Alexander Mishkin (alias Alexander Petrov), Anatoliy Chepiga (Ruslan Boshirov), and Denis Sergeev (Sergey Fedotov).

At the time, Nato also denied accreditation for three individuals, and reduced the size of the Russian mission from 30 to 20 people.