NATO expels 8 Russian diplomats, Russia accuses them of fabricating threat theory

Original title: NATO expelled 8 Russian diplomats, and Russia accused them of fabricating threat theory
NATO expels 8 Russian diplomats, Russia accuses them of fabricating threat theory
Wu Baoshu
North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials said on the 6th that the eight members of the Russian permanent mission to NATO are "intelligence personnel". NATO has revoked the resident qualification of these eight people and reduced the staffing of the Russian mission again from 20 to 10.
Russian Vice Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko responded on the same day, which is another move by NATO to spread the so-called "Russian threat".
[NATO driver]
An unnamed NATO official told several media that NATO had revoked the qualification of eight members of the Russian permanent mission to NATO, "they are unknown Russian intelligence personnel"; At the same time, NATO "has reduced the number of posts that the Russian Federation can post in NATO to 10".
"NATO's policy towards Russia remains unchanged. We have strengthened deterrence and defense against Russian provocations, and are still willing to carry out meaningful dialogue," the official said
According to British Sky News Channel, the above decision, unanimously agreed by NATO member states, will take effect at the end of this month. At that time, the above eight Russian personnel will "leave", and their positions and the other two vacant positions of the Russian delegation will be cancelled.
NATO is led by the United States and headquartered in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. NATO set a ceiling of 30 people on the number of Russian permanent missions to NATO in 2015.
In 2018, NATO revoked the qualification of seven members of the Russian permanent mission to NATO, rejected the application of three Russian diplomats to permanent NATO, and reduced the staffing of the Russian mission from 30 to 20. NATO said the move was a response to Sergei scripal's "poisoning" incident.
Former Russian British double agent scripal and his daughter fainted on the streets of Salisbury in March 2018. Britain and the United States claimed that the father and daughter were "poisoned" by Russia. The Russian side accused the British side of "directing and acting" and framing the Russian side.
[Russia condemns]
On NATO's expulsion of Russian diplomats again, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grushko said in an interview with Russia's businessman on the 6th: "yesterday, NATO leaders talked about the importance of easing relations with Russia and declared that they agreed to resume dialogue under the mechanism of the Russia NATO Committee... If someone believed that (yesterday), no one would believe it today."
Grushko said: "after they (NATO) have breathlessly ended their operations in Afghanistan, how can they not spread a wave of 'Russian threat'?"
Leonid slotsky, chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament), told Tass News Agency on the 6th: "all the accusations about the so-called malicious activities (Russian diplomats) are groundless and will not find evidence."
Slotsky said that "the whole west continues to pursue the policy of diplomatic confrontation with Russia, and the cancellation of the eight members of the permanent mission of the Russian Federation to NATO will further reduce the level of cooperation", which is completely not conducive to the establishment of dialogue; He believed that the Russian foreign ministry would come up with "adequate response measures, which may not be the same (as the other side). (end) (special feature of Xinhua News Agency)