No NATO Representatives Left in Moscow to Expel, Says Russian Diplomat

NATO’s secretariat has no representatives in Moscow who could be expelled in response to the alliance’s similar actions, but a great number of military attaches of its member states have already left Russia, said Andrei Kelin, Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for European Cooperation, on Thursday.

“NATO as an alliance has almost no one in Moscow today,” he said. “We didn’t close NATO’s information center in Moscow, but there are only one or two technical employees there now. There are no secretariat representatives there. We have currently no one to expel or dismiss.”

“NATO is an assembly of states,” he continued. “Tit-for-tat measures were taken for a whole number of states. Not just diplomats, but a great number of military attaches as well have left Moscow.”

 Earlier, NATO cut back its Russian diplomatic mission staff to 20 from 30 people in solidarity with the UK over the Skripal poisoning. Some NATO member states declared the expulsion of Russian diplomats. Russia mirrored moves against them by declaring an identical amount staff in their embassies personae non gratae.

TASS

R.S