Kremlin warns NATO members of escalating diplomatic tensions
According to Fars News Agency’s International Group, Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday warned of escalating diplomatic tensions by members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
According to the news agency “ReutersA Kremlin spokesman said NATO’s move to fire some members of the Russian mission at NATO headquarters in Brussels had dashed hopes of normalizing relations and continuing talks between Moscow and members of the military alliance.
“This,” Peskov told reporters [حرکت] “It shows the contradiction between the statements of NATO representatives about the desire to normalize relations and their real actions.”
The Russian official added that NATO’s actions did not indicate the possibility of normalizing relations and continuing the talks, and “in fact, such prospects have been completely diminished.”
A NATO official said on Wednesday that eight members of a Russian mission at the organization’s headquarters in Brussels had been fired, claiming they were “undeclared intelligence agents”.
In 2018, following the assassination of Sergei Skripal, a bilateral spy, and his daughter in Britain, NATO terminated its agreement with Moscow to appoint seven staff members to the Russian mission in NATO, rejecting the request of three other staff members.
By accusing Russia of killing Scripal, NATO reduced the maximum number of staff on the Russian mission at NATO headquarters from 30 to 10. Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations.
In addition to Peskov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Groshko accused NATO of hypocrisy yesterday (Wednesday), and a Russian lawmaker warned of retaliation that does not necessarily resemble NATO.
Meanwhile, a number of US senators from both parties yesterday (Tuesday) called on President Joe Biden to expel 300 Russian diplomats from the United States unless Russia issues more visas to Washington.
“Those who propose such measures are apparently seeking to push for the closure of US foreign institutions in Russia,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
“They have to understand that they are to blame for this,” the ministry said.
“Since Russia does not have such a large number of diplomats in Washington, the proposal in the US Senate is likely to include staff of the Russian diplomatic mission at the UN headquarters,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Diplomatic tensions between Russia and the West escalated after the Czech Republic accused Russia of involvement in the bombing of two munitions depots in April.
Russia responded to the expulsion of 18 diplomats by expelling 20 diplomats from the Czech Republic, accusing the United States of being involved in accusing the Czech Republic of conducting anti-Russian activities.
In recent months, Western countries, including the United States, Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, have provoked Washington to expel a number of Russian diplomats, which has been met with a reciprocal response from Moscow.
In retaliation, the Russian government ordered that the US embassy not have the right to employ Russian citizens and that it should reduce its consular staff by 75 percent and suspend many of its activities.
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