Russia Stops Work In NATO Office As Envoys' Accreditation Revoked

In response to the revoked accreditation for Russian diplomats, Russia will suspend the work of its permanent representation to NATO in Brussels starting November, according to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Hannah Wagner and Christian Thiele reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

Photo Insert: It has been left open whether the Russian officials whose accreditations were engaged in classic espionage at NATO or were merely not declared as intelligence service employees.

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As of November 1, its staff will have their accreditations withdrawn, he said.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NATO announced on October 6 it had withdrawn the accreditation of eight Russian diplomats in Brussels because they were undeclared intelligence officers.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 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.

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