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Stoltenberg: Russian personnel expelled from NATO HQ

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg mentions the expulsion of Russian personnel from NATO headquarters for engaging in espionage rather than diplomatic activities, not specifying when it occurred.

byYuri Zoria

05/04/2024

2 minute read

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Screenshot: CNN

Stoltenberg: Russian personnel expelled from NATO HQ

In an interview with BILD, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg revealed that several Russian personnel have been expelled from NATO headquarters for engaging in intelligence activities rather than diplomatic work.

“We have seen that Russian intelligence services have operated across European countries for many years. We’re also seeing attempts to step up their activities, but of course, NATO allies are monitoring, following this very closely,” the Secretary General said.

Stoltenberg stated, “We realized that they were carrying out activities that were not actually diplomatic work, but intelligence work.”

The NATO chief said the Alliance “expelled, for instance, Russian personnel from NATO headquarters because we realized that they were carrying out activities that were not actually diplomatic work, but intelligence work.”

However, he did not disclose the exact number of individuals expelled or provide specific details about the intelligence they had gathered while at the NATO headquarters, located in Brussels.

“Russia suspended its mission to NATO in October 2021. In an interview with Bild this week, the Secretary General referred to steps taken over recent years,” a NATO official said, according to Reuters.

In October 2021, NATO expelled eight members of Russia’s mission, labeling them as “undeclared Russian intelligence officers” who were secretly working as spies. Additionally, NATO reduced the size of the team that Moscow is allowed to have at the alliance’s headquarters to 10, though the reason for this decision was not specified.

It is unclear if Stoltenberg means that those 10 were also expelled sometime later.

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