Nato has ordered the expulsion of two Russian diplomats over a spy scandal in which an Estonian official was jailed for passing secrets to Moscow, a leading diplomat said today.
"Two Russian diplomats have been told they are not welcome here," the Nato diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The pair were attached to the Russian mission to Nato.
He said the move was connected to the case of Herman Simm, an Estonian official jailed for more than 12 years for treason in February for handing more than 2,000 pages of information to handlers in Russia's SVR Foreign Intelligence Service.
Nato ordered the diplomats out yesterday, the same day the alliance resumed formal talks with Russia at ambassadorial level, eight months after contacts were suspended over Russia's five-day war with Georgia last August.
Reuters