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NATO’s calls for dialogue senseless after Russian diplomats’ expulsion — Foreign Ministry

Maria Zakharova stressed that NATO’s secretary-general had mentioned no proof the Russian diplomats expelled from Brussels had been involved in intelligence activities, because he had none

MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg’s statements the alliance is ostensibly ready for a dialogue with Moscow on security matters are devoid of any sense in the wake of the expulsion of diplomats from the Russian mission to the alliance, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on Thursday.

"Everything that we are hearing from NATO as a bloc and from its secretary-general can hardly be taken seriously," she said. "There is nothing behind these statements in practical terms. And in principle, the way I see it, it does not make sense to expel Russian diplomats and at the same time profess the wish to negotiate with Moscow. As a matter of fact, those diplomats were accredited at NATO for conducting a dialogue at such a working level."

"Who is it Brussels is going to have a dialogue with at a time when they themselves have reduced the [diplomatic] mission by installments to a point where it is unable to perform its duties, in other words, to conduct a dialogue with NATO?" Zakharova said.

She stressed that NATO’s secretary-general had mentioned no proof the Russian diplomats expelled from Brussels had been involved in intelligence activities, because he had none.

Earlier, Stoltenberg said that the decision to expel Russian diplomats from Brussels had been made on the basis of intelligence information. At the same time, he mentioned no evidence that might prove the charges against Russia.

On October 6, NATO said it was reducing Russia’s mission from 20 staffers to 10. The accreditation of eight diplomats was revoked and two vacancies abolished. The alliance asked the Russian diplomats to leave Brussels by the end of October. On October 18, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia was suspending the operation of its mission to NATO altogether. Also, the activity of NATO’s Military Liaison Mission and Information Office in Moscow will be paused.

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