Eurasia Press & News
The Belgian government has asked Russia when two diplomats expelled by NATO over a spy scandal will be leaving their posts, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
NATO, whose headquarters are in Brussels, expelled the two men on Wednesday, the same day the military alliance held its first formal talks with Russia for eight months.
A NATO diplomat said they were ordered out over the case of Herman Simm, an Estonian jailed for treason in February for handing more than 2,000 pages of information to handlers in Russia’s SVR Foreign Intelligence Service.
“We have taken note that they have lost accreditation at NATO level and we have contacted the Russian mission,” the Belgian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.
“We asked when they will be returning their diplomatic cards and leaving their posts.”
She said this was a formal step following NATO’s decision and was not an expulsion order by Belgium.
In Moscow, the Kremlin has already decided on its response to the expulsions, Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday, quoting unnamed sources.
Interfax reported that official sources had not revealed the measures that will be taken but said analysts had speculated that NATO staff in Moscow may be expelled.
