Russia closes "two doors" with NATO

Original title: Russia closes the "two doors" with NATO

On October 14, Lavrov attended the meeting of the CIS foreign ministers' Council in the capital of Belarus. The meeting of the Council of foreign ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States was held in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, on the 14th. Representatives of participating countries discussed current international hot issues and deepening cooperation within the Commonwealth of Independent States. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Ren KOV)

On February 26, 2021, Stoltenberg attended the second day of the EU leaders' video summit in Brussels. Issued by Xinhua News Agency (picture provided by EU)
Xinhua news agency, Moscow, October 18 (reporter Hu Xiaoguang) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced on the 18th that Russia would suspend the work of its permanent representative office to NATO from November 1, including the work of its chief military representative. Meanwhile, Russia will suspend the activities of the NATO Military Liaison Office in Moscow, and the registration qualification of its staff will be withdrawn from November 1.
Lavrov also announced at a press conference in Moscow that the activities of the NATO Information Office in Moscow, located in the Belgian Embassy in Russia, would be terminated. In order to contact Moscow, NATO needs to contact the Russian ambassador to Belgium.
Lavrov said the move is a response to NATO action. NATO's decision to expel Russian diplomats shows that it is not interested in equal dialogue and joint work with Russia. He also said that Russia and NATO have not made any contact at the military level.
NATO officials said on the 6th that NATO has revoked the resident qualification of eight members of the Russian permanent mission to NATO and reduced the number of Russian mission personnel from 20 to 10. Russian diplomats who have been disqualified from permanent residence must leave before the end of October. NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg said on the 7th that NATO expelled eight members of the Russian permanent mission to NATO because they were engaged in espionage.
Russian presidential press secretary Peskov said on the 7th that NATO decided to expel Russian diplomats and accused them of engaging in hostilities, which undermined the normalization of relations between Russia and NATO.
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 number of Russian missions from 30 to 20.