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NATO Boots 2 Russians for Spying on HQ

Moscow charges expulsion is ploy to sabotage relations

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted May 1, 2009 2:42 AM CDT

(Newser) – NATO has expelled two Russian diplomats from its Brussels headquarters for spying, officials announced. The expulsion of the diplomats, one of whom is the son of Russia's EU ambassador, provoked an angry response from Moscow, which accused NATO of deliberately sabotaging relations. The spy scandal is the most serious rift between NATO and Russia since the war in South Ossetia last summer, reports the Guardian.

NATO officials say that Russia has increased its espionage activities recently following the conviction of an Estonian who passed NATO materials to Russia's foreign intelligence service. But Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's notoriously provocative ambassador to the military alliance, insisted that the accusations were "invented, irresponsible, and provocative."

Russia's ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, addresses the media in Brussels last year.
Russia's ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, addresses the media in Brussels last year.   (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
Incoming NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, left, and current chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, in Strasbourg, France in early April.
Incoming NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, left, and current chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, in Strasbourg, France in early April.   (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer speaks during a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer speaks during a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels.   (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)
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